Phones Down. Eyes on the Road.

 

Troy Dunnaway

By Troy Dunnaway

I’ve been with the Kansas Turnpike for almost 28 years doing roadway maintenance. I’ve seen my fair share of distracted drivers and had some close calls on the road.

Last summer, I was with my crew picking up cones after a lane closure near mile marker 208 in Lawrence. There wasn’t a lot of traffic at the time, but a good flow of cars passing by. One of my guys was at the back of the truck picking cones up while I kept watch.

A white truck approached us and veered closer to the white line. I slowed down and prepared to honk to get the driver’s attention while my co-worker turned his body away from the road. Suddenly, the driver of the white truck struck my side mirror and completely destroyed it. It all happened in a matter of seconds. If our truck had been any closer to the white line or the white truck crossed the white line by another 6 inches, he would have actually hit the vehicle and could have seriously injured myself or my co-worker.

I couldn’t see the driver’s face, but I could tell he was looking down at something. I’m guessing he was on his phone and not paying attention. What made the situation worse is the driver of the white truck didn’t even stop after the accident. He kept going down the Turnpike and most likely exited a few miles down the road.

We do a lot to prepare drivers to enter a work zone — lots of signage, lights, cones, barrier trucks. It’s frustrating to see people still coming through work zones and reading something on their phone. It takes a quarter of a second to go off the road or cross the white line.

The bottom line is, get off your phone completely when going through a work zone. Pause your call, put your phone down. Any distraction can potentially cause someone injuries. My biggest fear is having to contact an employee’s loved one because there’s been an accident.

 

Troy Dunnaway is the Structures Foreman for the Kansas Turnpike Authority in Lawrence.