April 15 – 19 is National Work Zone Awareness Week

April 15 – 19 is National Work Zone Awareness Week.

To ensure the safety of both motorists and highway construction and maintenance workers, New York State's efforts to raise awareness about Work Zone Safety aim to prevent work zone injuries and fatalities by encouraging alert driving through construction zones.

Motorists are required to slow down, be alert and drive carefully in all work zones. In addition, motorists are required to move over a lane if safely possible for all vehicles stopped along the road.

This includes vehicles displaying red, white, blue, amber or green lights that indicate emergency response vehicles, tow trucks and highway construction and maintenance vehicles.

Failure to comply will result in significant civil and possible criminal penalties.

During 2023, there were 413 work zone intrusions on New York state roads maintained by the State Department of Transportation and Thruway Authority.

A work zone intrusion is defined as an incident where a motor vehicle has entered a portion of the roadway that is closed due to construction or maintenance activity.

Those crashes resulted in three fatalities and 144 injuries to highway workers and vehicle occupants.

NYSP and NWZAW images.