Signs are there for a reason

I’m Heather Jennings, Construction Manager at the Syracuse Area Office. Whether it’s a highway
construction or maintenance project, keeping the workers and the traveling public safe is a priority.

Workers and equipment are always moving, coming or going within a traffic control zone. A while back, I was the lead inspector on a mill and overlay project in Ness County that also included the expansion of the shoulders from 3 feet to 6 feet.

One day, I was running density tests away from the other workers or equipment when I watched three vehicles east of my position pull up to an intersection and stop. This intersection had a “Wait For Pilot Car” sign properly mounted and clearly visible to the motorists approaching it.

Then I looked to the west and watched as the pilot car and vehicle line traveling east through the traffic control zone line passed me and the three vehicles waiting at the intersection.

I wasn’t very happy when I then watched those three vehicles proceed to turn west after the final vehicle in that line had passed them going east. Not only did I have rogue vehicles in an active construction zone with no escort, but now they were coming in my direction.

I put a hand up to stop the first rogue vehicle so I could have a conversation with the driver. I asked him if he had seen the sign advising him to wait for the pilot car. The driver said he had; however, he knew it was safe because the pilot car and traffic had gone the opposite direction of where he wanted to go.

I educated the driver that knowing where the pilot car was didn’t allow drivers to enter an active construction zone. We use traffic control for a reason. There are milling/asphalt trucks coming and going throughout the construction zone, not to mention the multiple construction pickups that are traveling throughout the construction site. Employees are moving from place to place, equipment to equipment, running tests for the project as well as other needed activities.  

This driver said he was headed home from a funeral service. The only thing I could think of in that moment was that - if he had just come from a funeral, how dare he endanger those of us in the road working? We all have someone or something to make it home for - whether it’s a kid, spouse, dog or cat - it doesn’t matter. We have people we love and who love us too.

Long story short, it is not safe to run a Wait For Pilot Car sign. The sign is in place to help protect the traveling public as well as those of us who are actively working on the road. We work to get the job done safely and efficiently. Please follow the signs and show respect to the people out there in the work zones.

                                                            (Photos above show Heather Jennings with her daughter and son.)

Unexpected emergencies can unfold in seconds

Keith Hubler, center, is pictured with his wife, Sheena, and his father, Carl.

In highway maintenance, we prepare for traffic, equipment issues and changing weather. What we can’t always prepare for are the unexpected emergencies that unfold in seconds. 

My name is Keith Hubler, I have worked for KDOT since 2019. I started as an Equipment Operator and currently serve as Highway Maintenance Superintendent in Clay Center.  As a superintendent, I rely heavily on the leadership of my subarea supervisors and the professionalism of our crews. 

Not too long ago, I received a call from a subarea supervisor, a call nobody ever wants to receive. “We’ve had an incident in our work zone on I-70.”  My mind raced. Was the crew OK? Was the public safe? 

According to his account, the crew was working in the driving lane with a standard mobile setup; patch truck in operation, crash attenuator and a trail vehicle pulling a flashing “Road Work Ahead” sign trailer to alert approaching traffic. It was a typical workday: High visibility, proper signage and standard safety protocols in place. 

Then, without warning, a motorist approaching the work zone began to behave erratically. The driver drifted into the median, nearly striking the overpass guardrail. The motorist then overcorrected, crossing back over the roadway and off the right-hand shoulder, narrowly missing the trail vehicle and the flashing sign trailer. 

As the supervisor relayed the details to me, it became clear just how close the situation had been to becoming a catastrophic work zone crash. A matter of feet separated our crew from what could have been a serious collision. 

The supervisor indicated that one of our newly hired crew members quickly went to check on the driver while another crew member called 911. That quick response speaks volumes about the culture of safety and responsibility our supervisors work hard to instill. Even in an active work zone, with traffic continuing to move, the team acted decisively and professionally. 

It was thought that the driver had experienced a medical emergency. Emergency responders arrived promptly. Kansas Highway Patrol officers secured the scene, and an ambulance arrived with staff providing medical assistance and extricating the driver. Following the incident, the crew completed witness statements as requested by law enforcement. 

As I sat by the roadside digesting the phone call I had just received, I found myself reflecting on how unpredictable roadside operations truly are. We focus heavily on traffic control plans, equipment placement, lighting and personal protective equipment—and rightly so.

But this incident was not caused by distraction or reckless driving. It appears to have been a medical emergency, something entirely outside the realm of normal driver behavior and beyond the control of our crew. 

From a leadership standpoint, what stands out most is how the team responded. The subarea supervisor maintained control of the scene. The crew followed protocol, contacted emergency services and continued to prioritize safety for both motorists and workers. There was no panic, only action. 

Incidents like this reinforce why we emphasize training and situational awareness at every level. A work zone on a high-speed corridor such as I-70 leaves little margin for error. When a vehicle enters that space in an unpredictable manner, the consequences can escalate quickly. In this case, preparedness, alertness and a measure of good fortune prevented what could have been a far more serious outcome. 

As a superintendent, I often receive calls about equipment repairs, completed projects and routine maintenance accomplishments. This call was different. It served as a reminder that our crews are exposed to risks that go beyond potholes and pavement conditions. Every vehicle that approaches a work zone carries unknown variables. 

I am proud of how my supervisor and the crew handled this situation. Their professionalism made it possible for the driver to receive prompt medical attention and for safety in the work zone to remain a priority under rapidly changing circumstances. 

Highway maintenance is about more than infrastructure, it’s about people. And on that afternoon near Abilene, the actions of our team demonstrated exactly why strong leadership and well-trained crews matter. 

 

A challenge that could have cost him his life

Technical Trooper Phillip Metzen

I’m Technical Trooper Phillip Metzen with the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Troop I. On Dec. 1, 2025, after serving the state of Kansas for 11 years, I faced a new challenge within my career that almost cost me my life.

I responded to the scene of a non-injury crash on Highway K-96 in Wichita involving three motorists. Light snow was falling at the time, causing slick road conditions. I positioned my patrol car on the inside lane of the highway with my emergency lights activated to provide protection for the disabled vehicles involved in the crash. As I was relaying my location to dispatch, prior to exiting my vehicle, my patrol car was suddenly struck from behind.

I responded to the crash to help others, but within just nine seconds of stopping, I was the one who needed help.

The impact pushed my patrol car nearly 100 feet forward, despite it being in park. During the collision, my head struck the driver’s side visor and a mounted camera. I was then thrown back into the driver’s seat, which broke backwards, causing me to strike the pillar between the driver’s side doors.

The crash investigation revealed that the vehicle which struck my patrol car had failed to slow down and began sliding out of control several hundred feet back. The vehicle crossed three lanes of traffic before colliding with my patrol car.

As a result of the crash, I sustained multiple injuries, including a torn rotator cuff and labrum tear in my shoulder, which will affect me for the rest of my life. I am also still experiencing symptoms from the concussion I suffered and have ongoing medical appointments to aid recovery.

Working in law enforcement is dangerous, and I know the risks I face every day on the job. This was not the first time I’ve been struck by a motorist on the roadway; it was the third time since I began my career in 2015. If this crash had occurred just a few seconds later, I would have been outside of my patrol car, and I might not be here today to tell my story.

That is why I urge every driver to slow down when they see emergency lights ahead. It doesn’t matter if those lights belong to a police vehicle, a KDOT vehicle, an ambulance, a fire truck or a tow truck.

Life moves fast. Slow down so it doesn’t end too soon.

Never forget: Every day is a gift

Andréa Barnes at work (above) and at home (below).

 My name is Andréa Barnes, and I’m the Highway Maintenance Supervisor in Louisburg. I have worked for KDOT since 2001 and have had several close calls. Each one makes me realize how each day is a gift.

I love my job at KDOT and absolutely understand I am putting my life on the line to make improvements to the road. I don’t let my guard down and am continuously looking for an escape route. When I hear an air horn, I am getting out the way because in my world, that means we are about to get hit. In my opinion, the people who work on the roads are heroes, putting their lives on the line for the safety of others.

In March 2011, the Louisburg crew was patching potholes on U.S. 169.  I was in the lead truck with another co-worker. We had a pickup truck hooked to the patch trailer. It was a mobile work zone, so there was a dump truck with an attenuator right behind me and an arrow board about a quarter mile back from the attenuator truck.

I had just flipped my shovel over with cold patch when I heard the air horn. I looked at the operator in the attenuator truck to see which way I should run. He pointed to his left, which was in another lane of traffic.

I started to run when I heard my co-worker fall. I turned, grabbed his shoulders and pulled with all I had. After the full-size truck hit the attenuator, it spun the dump truck around on the passenger’s side. As I pulled my coworker, I saw the truck sliding sideways, missing his legs by only a foot.

The worker in the attenuator had terror in his eyes and said he couldn’t move.  I told him I would direct traffic around us until others arrived. I then saw the employee I dragged out of the way checking on the guy who hit our truck.

We talk frequently about how to warn the workers in front of the truck. In fact, I trained that attenuator truck driver. He was new, but he understood how important his job was. In my opinion, he did everything right and saved my life that day. He had the airbrakes set and turned the drive wheels toward the ditch. He was paying attention and pulled the air horn to alert us as soon as he realized he was going to be hit.

I remember him saying, “I thought I was going to watch you all die.” I told him because he honked the horn quickly, we had time to react and get away.

The guy who hit the truck was shaken up and said he was sorry. At the time, I didn’t want to hear that. I had a connection with these employees, and sorry just wasn’t enough.

On top of this, while directing traffic, a mini van parked on the shoulder. I told the guy he couldn’t stop there. But he screamed at me that his son was in the attenuator truck, and he needed to make sure he was OK.

So, I had him park at the top of the ramp, then helped his son get out of the attenuator truck. His father was in tears. He heard on the police scanner a KDOT truck was hit and knew his son was working there. Nothing was stopping him from checking on his son.  

We found out the driver was checking his Blackberry for emails; he looked up and there was nothing he could do. He hit us at 65 mph, and he never hit the brakes.

This incident affected him too. As I was pulling my co-worker out of the way, I remember seeing his face. He looked completely terrified. He later told people in Missouri at a rally to ban texting and driving that he remembered the look on our faces. He said he would not want to live with the fact if he had killed two highway workers.

It is now 15 years later, and I can still recall what people said, how it felt as the truck slid by us and the absolute fear I had inside of me. I went home that night and kissed and hugged my kids and told them, “You know I love you, right?”

I then fell apart while my partner just held me. We raised five wonderful kids and one of them is special needs, who didn’t understand why I was upset. But he knew I did everything in my power to come home each night to them. I was needed, loved and cared for by my family.

A headline might say, “Highway worker killed,” but it doesn’t include all the people in my life who love and need me. I survived that day, but others haven’t been so lucky. I am grateful things worked out, but highway workers shouldn’t have to pay with our lives. I will be forever changed by a choice someone else made.

While driving, and especially in work zones, remember that phone call, text message or email can wait. Pay attention; it is not worth killing someone. Our jobs are hard enough without having to live in constant fear.

I am now a supervisor myself, and my main goal is that all my employees go home safely every day. We are the hands that fill the potholes, the ones who repair the signs and plow the snow. Follow the signs and be alert. We shouldn’t have to pay for your bad choices.

 

 

Nothing surprises me anymore

KTA employee Kenny Olson

Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA) employee Kenny Olson shared his story in 2017 about work zone safety. Kenny retired from KTA after 14 years of service.

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When you’re out on the roadway for a living, you hear, see and sometimes even experience scary moments. 

My name is Kenny Olson and I’m a Roadway Striping Foreman. I’ve been with KTA for 12 years and I have had more close calls on the roadway than many would think. Just last summer, I had vehicle crashes happen at two different times while painting roadway lines.

One of these was in Wichita on the entrance ramp from the K-96 plaza. We were painting the white line on the right side, early in the morning when a driver came down the entry ramp way too fast.

Because of her speed, she wasn’t able to move out the way in time and hit the corner of our attenuator (the crash cushion hooked at the back of a truck) and then bounced and hit the guardrail. She was lucky she didn’t hit the truck again after that but rather carried all the way through the right of way.

The other happened near Lecompton where the road goes from three lanes to two. We were on the right with the striper when, for a reason I still don’t know today, a semi-truck locks up his brakes while in the left lane. His cab cut between the attenuator truck and the truck ahead of it, and jack-knifed.

The trailer whipped so fast that it hit the attenuator sideways and ended up back in the roadway, blocking traffic. The driver just backed up and drove away! Luckily a trooper caught up to him at a service area soon after.

These are just my two most recent experiences, but there’s been so many more. From a motorist not paying attention and actually driving their vehicle between the barrier wall and our striping machine to another driver purposely driving into the grass and back up onto the road to avoid driving through the work zone. Nothing surprises me anymore, and that’s the sad reality.

We can take as many safety precautions as necessary, making changes to safety procedures, but ultimately, drivers need to pay attention. People are in such a hurry, on their phones, or even having a dog on their lap licking their face (yes, that was a real thing I saw once on the road). Leave sooner. Watch the roadway signs. Pay attention.

Too many close calls to even remember

KDOT employee Brian Link with his family.

KDOT employee Brian Link shared his story in 2018 about the need for safety in work zones. He has continued to serve as the Highway Maintenance Supervisor in Johnson County, and he’s been with KDOT nearly 25 years.

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My name is Brian Link. I have worked for KDOT for 17 years and am currently the Area Supervisor for Johnson County. During my time I have seen numerous crashes in and out of work zones. I personally have been struck two times on separate occasions while providing traffic control for maintenance operations.

The first time occurred while I was sitting on the shoulder in a dump truck with an arrow board. I was struck from behind by a car that was involved in a crash with another vehicle. My truck and I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My second crash happened while we were patching potholes with a mobile lane closure. I was in the attenuator truck following the patch crew. The car that hit me had passed two other KDOT trucks on the shoulders stationed behind me to give advanced warning of the patching operations.

I was fortunate not to sustain any injuries from these crashes: although the people who hit me did suffer minor ones. These are just two examples of my personal experiences, but I have had too many close calls to even remember them all.  I try not to tell my wife about them all, as I do not want to worry her more about the danger that we face every day at work.

I think the biggest concern for me is even with all our lights, traffic control and advanced warning; our safety is in the hands of the citizens that travel the road every day. We rely on them to drive undistracted, not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, alert and to have their brain engaged and focused on the task of driving.

I sometimes feel the citizens driving do not see us as people with a family. A family we love and want to go home to. Furthermore, we are objects in their way obstructing their busy schedule, a nuisance that causes them to be delayed.

I want people to know that we are there providing a service to maintain the safety of the roadway. We have a job to do serving the citizens of Kansas and visitors to our great state. Give us a brake…pay attention, slow down and give us a lane.

Work Zone Safety - A Mom's Worst Nightmare

In 2010, Shirley McDonald shared her story about losing her son, KDOT employee Scotty McDonald, in a work zone fatality crash that happened in 2005.

This is just one of several stories that Shirley has shared during the past 20 years to help raise awareness of why work zone safety is so important. She has also spoken at events, appeared in public service announcements and talked with media.

Her efforts to improve work zone safety through the years are immeasurable. We’ll never know how many lives she saved from being lost in a work zone crash because her message slowed someone down, got them off the phone or made them more alert.

Please remember Shirley’s message every time you are in a highway work zone.

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By Shirley McDonald

Promoting work zone safety is a very personal issue for me. Whenever I pass a work zone, I am immediately reminded of the day my son, Scott McDonald, was killed while working.

What bizarre circumstances came together at the exact seconds that the driver left the road and struck him, tossing him into the air and eventually ending his life a short time later due to a massive head injury? Did the whole accident last long enough that he was aware and scared for his life? Was he in horrible pain during the last minutes of his life? Was he aware that others were with him within seconds struggling to save him? Did he know that he was not alone? Did he know how much we loved him?

Last weekend I traveled on local, state, and interstate highways where I became convinced that construction zone work is one of the most dangerous occupations that exist. I drove through the areas on a hot summer day with Kansas dust blowing, cars speeding by with little, if any, awareness of, let alone attention to, work zone speed limits or hazards. I saw drivers smoking, eating, talking on their cell phones, reading maps, disciplining children, just to note a few examples of less-than-attentive driving.

Occasionally my van rocked from the speed of drivers passing by and the force of the wind. The distance separating the work zone and workers from traffic sometimes looked like only inches, especially when concrete barrier blocks were set up or the area being constructed was small, like a two-way road with one lane each way, or an intersection in a high-traffic area. The workers concentrated on their work and seemed to be looking out for each other.

I thought about the workers out in those elements and how the weather must be affecting them and their ability to stay focused. I also wondered how they deal with the potential dangers without becoming too fearful to continue to do their jobs.

How can the workers protect themselves from the dangers all around? How can we who enter the work zones promote their safety? How can we promote the knowledge that those who work in a work zone are loved and valued individuals with someone waiting for them to come home?

 

Shirley McDonald is the mother of KDOT employee Scotty McDonald, who was killed in a work zone crash in 2005.