Don’t be that driver

By Ted C. Coleman

Ted Coleman

The theme of my story is “Don’t be that driver.” This week is National Work Zone Awareness Week. I would like to share some things I have experienced in my 34-year career here at KDOT and help raise awareness about keeping drivers and highway workers safe.
Highway workers work hard, long hours in tough weather and they put themselves in harm’s way daily. We need to keep the workers safe, and we need to keep all the drivers safe too.

Kansas has averaged more than 1,700 work zone crashes a year during the past 10 years, which is way more than when I started working at KDOT in 1985. Back then we patched potholes without attenuators on our trucks. I won’t step out into a traffic lane without an attenuator these days.

People’s behavior and attention to driving has changed dramatically since the tech boom of the 1990s. Drivers have cell phones, video players, X-Box games and lap top computers. Drivers’ eyes are on technology and ear buds are on teenagers’ ears while driving now. Let alone people eating their fast food and putting on make-up while driving down the highway. We all know somebody like this in our lives, correct?

It can be scary at times out working or traveling on the Kansas highways. People are not paying attention, they’re distracted, they’re texting, they’re talking on the phone, eating their fast food, watching their GPS or computer installed in their cars now, so you really have to be on your toes.

In most construction zones, workers can be as close as two feet from active traffic, which is why it’s so important to pay attention. Distracted driving - that’s a challenge we our dealing with now. In my opinion, distracted driving is causing most of the problems we see now.

Cell phones and texting can be big distractions for drivers. With my experience out on the highway, I have seen many other distractions that are just as dangerous.

One day I was called out to work a five-car fender bender, which required me to close down a lane of K-96 during lunch hour, all due to a motorist not paying attention to his driving because he dropped his French fries on the floor of his car. He bent over to salvage his French fries he had dropped and took his eyes off the road and rear ended the car in front of him causing a chain reaction car crash pile up. That driver totaled his brand new sports car.

Another incident in my career, the one call you never want to receive, is the call from your employee stating that they were involved in an accident while mowing along the shoulder of the highway. When I arrived at the accident scene to take care of my employee, I found out the cause of the accident was due to the fact that the driver was looking in her rear-view mirror putting on make-up. She veered off the highway, striking the KDOT tractor mower.

Again, but this time on an Interstate highway, I worked an accident where a man was drinking his soda pop and the fizzing went up his nose and sneezing caused him to swerve and side swipe the car next to him and the crash into the attenuator’s crash barrels that were present on the highway.

Driver-related factors that affect work zone crashes include speeding, in-vehicle distractions and inattentive or rear-end collisions. Paying attention to traffic ahead and maintaining an adequate following distance are necessary for safe driving.

Work zones are dynamic places that can change from minute to minute. Being alert is critical. When motorists are alert and obey traffic devices, everyone’s safety is enhanced. The Kansas Department of Transportation has a responsibility to provide work zone traffic control and drivers have a responsibility to follow that traffic control and drive safely as they are passing through those work zones.

Work zone crashes are avoidable. If drivers were aware of how important it is to slow down in work zones and pay attention, hundreds of lives could be saved across the country every year.

I offer the following tips for driving safely in work zones:

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO: Check Kandrive.org or WichWay.com to find out if there are construction work zones along your path and allow extra time to navigate those areas.

PAY ATTENTION: Don’t drive distracted by texting, eating that Big-Mac or other activities that take your hands off the wheel. Look for reduced speed limits, narrow driving lanes and highway workers.

MERGE SAFELY: If the number of lanes is reduced, drivers should not speed to try and pass other vehicles as they merge in the work zone.

SLOW DOWN: If you’re speeding, you may encounter slowed or stopped traffic within seconds.

DON’T TAILGATE: Maintain a safe distance on all sides of your vehicle.

GIVE HIGHWAY WORKERS A BRAKE!

It’s everybody’s responsibility to keep work zones safe. Don’t be that driver.

Thank you!

Ted Coleman is a KDOT Highway Maintenance Supervisor in Wichita.