An important safety reminder from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation in Waukesha County after one of their workers nearly lost his life on the job. WisDOT is asking people to slow down and put their cell phones down especially as we head into a busy holiday travel weekend.
"We had a close call,” said Andy Bakker, a subcontractor for WisDOT.
This is a picture of the crash that almost killed Andy.
“We do pavement marking and pavement marking is one of the most dangerous jobs in road construction,” said Andy.
Two years ago, he was working overnight on I-94 near Lake Mills for Century Traffic which is a subcontractor WisDOT.
“We were in lane one with traffic whizzing by us in the next lane. And a gentleman had his phone off his dashboard where his speedometer is watching Netflix. He missed every one of our signs, every message board, every arrow board, and even came up to all our strobes,” said Andy.
Instead of crashing into Andy and his team of five workers, the driver hit what is known as a crash cushion. The vice absorbs a vehicle’s energy at impact. The Wisconsin DOT reminds drivers that not everyone is protected.
"Last year, there were more than 2,100 work zone crashes in Wisconsin. That resulted in 712 injuries and 9 fatalities,” said Erin Schwartz, statewide work zone operations engineer, WisDOT.
This Memorial Day Weekend, more than 44 million people are expected to travel according to AAA. If you are one of them, Andy wants you to think about people like him as you drive through work zones.
"Remember, just like me and you, everyone with a vest on is just trying to go home to their family,” said Andy.
State Patrol is also warning they will have extra troopers on the road for the holiday weekend. If they catch you speeding in a work zone, the fines start at $260. If you are on your phone in a work zone, the ticket is $160.
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