Message Monday - Bob works on the roads. Don't hit Bob. We need Bob
Bob, Bill, Jane, Mary, Steve, Molly and thousands more of our friends and family are working on the roads to make your travels smoother, safer, and more efficient.
We honor all of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day in highway work zones. Although we have their backs every day, it’s good to take some additional time during National Work Zone Awareness Week to give them the recognition they deserve.
This fiscal year, the Iowa DOT has $732M in construction planned. That means hundreds of work zones will be popping up all over Iowa. If you count all the county and city construction projects, that number easily jumps into the thousands.
Here are a few things you can do to make sure everyone returns home safely at the end of each day.
- Pay attention to the task of driving. Once you get behind the wheel, all other things can wait.
- Slow down when you come up on a work zone and if you can move over to give workers more space.
- Leave plenty of space between vehicles in case you need to stop quickly for unexpected work zone activities.
Close calls are unfortunately very common. Here are some stories out friends in Utah put together in 2017 - https://youtu.be/ZYOsSu4el6s
For 2019, there have been 63 fatalities reported. That’s an increase of four since last Monday. The 2018 fatality count stands at 317. This is subject to change as law enforcement reports are completed. To see statistics published daily by the Office of Driver Services, go to the daily fatality report at https://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/stats/daily.pdf