After crashes kill dozens in NC work zones every year, a plea on behalf of workers
Michelle Von Seggern was a day shy of her 54th birthday and working on a paving crew for Barnhill Contracting Co. when a young man drove into a work zone in Wilmington and hit and killed her last month.
Von Seggern left behind six children, seven grandchildren and co-workers who feel a special void, said Skip Partington, a vice president for Barnhill.
“She was a mother to everyone on the paving crew,” Partington said. “She would bake cookies. She would look out for everybody.”
Slow down and pay attention
Partington came to Raleigh on Thursday to represent Von Seggern at a press conference to call attention to the dangers of highway work zones. The plea from construction companies and the N.C. Department of Transportation to drivers: Slow down and pay attention when you drive through one.
Summer vacation season coincides with the busiest time of the year for road construction, made busier this year by the infusion of federal money for projects across the country, said Brian Turmail, spokesman for the Associated General Contractors of America, which organized the event.
“That means even more men and women are going to be working just feet away — sometimes just inches away — from people driving several-thousand-pound vehicles at high rates of speed,” Turmail said. “And unfortunately, drivers are too often distracted or speeding or even under the influence when they’re driving through those work zones.”
The 29-year-old man accused of killing Von Seggern was charged with DWI, among other crimes.
There were at least 7,523 work zone crashes in North Carolina last year, according to the state Department of Transportation. That’s up from 6,258 the year before and well above the annual average of 5,821 over the previous decade, according to NCDOT data.
Those crashes killed 31 people last year — some of them workers, some of them riding in cars or trucks. Since 2013, nearly 290 people have been killed in construction zone crashes, according to NCDOT.
“To put it mildly, this is not acceptable,” said Chris Peoples, the department’s chief operating officer.
Tougher fines may be coming
State Rep. Dean Arp used the press conference to announce that he plans to introduce a bill this year that would stiffen fines for speeding in work zones and require work zone safety training for new drivers.
“This driving training requirement will send a message that the safety of our road workers is sincerely important to us here in North Carolina,” said Arp, a Republican from Union County near Charlotte.
Drivers caught speeding in a construction zone face a minimum fine of $250 in North Carolina. Arp said it’s too soon to say how much it would increase under his bill, but said he’d like it to be more in line with nearby states, where work zone speeding fines range from $500 to $1,000.
“I would hope that we could match some of our neighboring states,” he said.
A survey of 25 North Carolina general contractors this spring found that a majority (84%) had a car or truck crash into their work zone in the past year and that a wider majority (96%) thought greater police presence would help.
Peoples said NCDOT is working with the State Highway Patrol to increase the presence of flashing blue lights in work zones, if not the number of troopers themselves. The department has 25 trailers deployed at construction zones that flash the same blue lights found on cruisers. The trailers also can detect the speed of traffic and tell motorists when they’re exceeding the speed limit.
“We have 25 in use and are pleased to say that 25 more are on the way,” Peoples said.
But Peoples and others who spoke at the press conference stressed that drivers can and should control themselves in work zones, by letting up on the accelerator and paying attention.
Partington, the Barnhill VP, has worked in construction since the 1980s.
“I’ve been out there many times five feet from the traveling public going 70 mph,” he said. “And I see their hand on the steering wheel texting or reading a text.”
