Work Zone Accidents

ny.gov, Dec 05, 2005

Law Will Improve Work Zone Safety, Strengthen Existing Provisions And Enacts New Protections

Governor George E. Pataki today announced that he has signed legislation into law that will promote safety in New York's highway and bridge work zones and increase penalties for those convicted of speeding within them.

The Work Zone Safety Act of 2005 comes on the heels of one of the worst work zone accidents in New York State history. On May 20, 2005 highway workers Jonathon Randall, 32, and Wayne Bonsell, 39, both of Binghamton, and Jason Pessoni, 30, of Cincinnatus, were killed in a work zone on Interstate 81 in the Town of Chenango when a charter bus, reportedly speeding, struck a tractor trailer and started a chain reaction leading to the deaths. The three men were employees of Economy Paving Company of Cortland.

New York's transportation agencies also work closely with the New York State Police on initiatives such as Operation Hard Hat, a program in which State troopers inconspicuously placed within work zones record speeds of vehicles and radio descriptions of violators to teammates in marked chase cars. During the 2004 Operation Hard Hat campaign, State Police issued 1,648 tickets statewide for speeding in and around work zones.

Although work zone accident fatalities are rare, a total of 467 traffic crashes were reported in New York State Department of Transportation work zones in 2004, with seven crashes resulting in fatalities. Since 1995, there were 485 intrusions into Department of Transportation work zones. Intrusions occur when vehicles enter the closed portion of a marked work zone