By Dominic Harrington
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| Dominic Harrington and his wife, Rachel. |
1454 to Area Four, 1454 TO AREA FOUR!
Those words will haunt me my entire KDOT career. My name is
Dominic Harrington and I am the District One Maintenance Superintendent in
Topeka.
It was the morning of June 1, 2005, and I was a newly-minted
KDOT Equipment Operator. It was a cloudy, rainy day and like so many others we
were sent out to run our route, pick up trash, remove dead animals, straighten
signs and so on. It seemed to be just another normal day in a Subarea, but this
morning would be anything but normal.
Shortly after starting our day, we heard a frantic call
over the radio, one of our co-workers had been struck on U.S. 75 highway. I
thought to myself, “How could this happen?” Nobody should be on the roadway
working this morning. Another co-worker and I were near the location of the
incident, so we hurried as fast as we could to see if there was anything we
could do to help. Luckily, a Kansas Highway Patrol Officer was already on scene
and had called for an ambulance and back up to assist with traffic control.
Scotty McDonald had been struck and killed while picking up
trash down in the ditch, off the edge of the roadway. Prior to this accident, our
crew had always considered this a “safe place” to be working. One moment of
inattentive driving had cost Scotty the ultimate price.
In the following days we abstained from working on the
roads, attended grief counseling and generally were in a state of shock. The
“safe place” we had was gone, leaving everyone on edge while working along the
road. Fourteen years later when I hear a call to an Area Office, I always
assume the worst has happened again.
Sometimes when really bad things happen, some good can come
from it. Thanks to Marvin and Shirley McDonald, parents of Scotty, who have
continued to show their support for roadworkers and their safety. With their
help, the Move Over Law was enacted July 1, 2006, which has greatly helped to
improve roadside safety. And Shirley has spoken at many events over the years
about the need for safety in work zones. Marvin and Shirley, if you happen to
read this, thank you!
Wherever your travels may take you, please watch out for
emergency and maintenance crews working on the road. A few seconds to slow down
and move over could make all the difference to someone’s father, mother, uncle,
aunt or grandparent. Thank you.
