Life can change in an instant

My name is Tony Phillips. I have been an Equipment Operator Senior at the District One, Area Two, Shawnee Subarea Shop for 10 years. As a highway maintenance worker, we are tasked with a wide variety of jobs. Every day keeps you guessing as to what the day will bring.

Tony Phillips

On an early fall day - the skies were sunny, and it was a good day to be outside. Our office had a citizen complaint about potholes on K-10. This was a typical assignment that had been safely completed more times than I could count.

After lunch, another Equipment Operator and I traveled the entire stretch of K-10, from K-7 to the Douglas County line, checking bridge decks for any trouble spots and performing repairs as needed - something we were both experienced with. We were wearing our safety attire and had all emergency lighting activated to alert drivers of our presence and advise them to move over.

As we were conducting our operations, everything was going well. Traffic was moving over and/or slowing down. We even received a few waves of the hand as some drivers passed by. If traffic couldn’t move over, we waited until after traffic cleared to perform our tasks. Law enforcement was in the area, and a Kansas Highway Patrol vehicle was parked on the opposite side of our location on an entrance ramp.

While on the bridge over Edgerton Road, we observed a moderate- to large-sized pothole on the bridge deck. I stopped the vehicle, leaving room for my co-worker to exit the vehicle safely by the bridge wall. We both began the tasks to clean out and repair the pothole. Then as he proceeded into the lane to place asphalt, I saw a pickup truck in the right lane approaching us.  

The vehicle was passing the exit sign to Edgerton Road, which was well before our location. I was standing at the white line, on the shoulder, and directed the driver to the left lane by pointing and waving my arm to get his attention. I alerted my coworker that a vehicle was coming and continued motioning to the driver to move over, but the vehicle was not moving over or slowing down. As the vehicle came closer, I saw the driver was not looking forward, but instead had his head turned to the right. There was no traffic around this vehicle to impede a safe merge away from us.

The driver kept getting closer to the white line and my coworker said, "He's not moving." The vehicle was now on us, and the driver still not looking forward. I side stepped to the left onto the shoulder further, as the vehicle was about to hit us and/or our vehicle. I raised my arm to protect my face and body in a blocking motion, and the approaching vehicle’s mirror struck my right forearm. The impact caused me to spin toward the bridge wall, and I was able to stop myself before falling over the side of the bridge. Pieces of the vehicle had scattered onto the highway.

I held my right arm with my left hand bracing it, unknown if it was severely injured and/or broken. My co-worker called our supervisor and I alerted the KHP officer on the ramp. Highway Patrol, Johnson County Sheriff’s Department, KDOT staff, EMS and fire all arrived on scene very quickly. I was checked out and transported by my supervisor to the hospital for assessment.

Luckily, I had no broken bones, just a contusion to my arm. It’s still hard to believe because the best way I can describe how it felt is like a baseball bat hitting my forearm. I was extremely uncomfortable but felt blessed it wasn’t worse. After the fact, reality hit and it played over and over in my head on what could have been, how just a few more inches could have changed my life, changed so many other lives.

I had long talks with my loved ones after this incident. I was told that this job is too dangerous. I was told that the traveling public has become too complacent and careless. But I told them that someone needs to do this work, it is necessary for so many reasons. Not just to maintain a roadway so that one can travel to work, but to also see loved ones, family, friends, to go fishing, see a game, to support your household, etc.

I love what I do, and my crew members are some of the best I have ever worked with. All the crews in Area Two and the rest of Kansas are outstanding, I work with a great bunch of operators. And whether we say it out loud or not, we take pride in what we do and we try our best to make these roads safe for our friends, families and ourselves.

But please always remember, life can change in an instant. Please keep your eyes open, be aware of your surroundings, watch for one another and be safe. Please educate the people close to you, to spread the word to be aware, don’t be distracted, move over and slow down for highway maintenance workers. One second can change so many lives.