DOTD urges safe driving for National Work Zone Awareness Week

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) wants to make sure drivers are paying attention behind the wheel, especially when they're in road construction zones.

There are currently lots of projects underway in south Louisiana. For instance, workers have reduced some sections of Government Street down to one lane.

Drivers are already encouraged to slow down in work zones with an increased fine if a driver is caught speeding. But, it also doesn't hurt bringing attention to the topic through an awareness week.

"For the men and women in construction, the roadways and the highways and the places where they work outdoors is essentially their office and we need to be vigilant and take extra precautions in those zones and just so that you know, dating back to 1947, there have been 44 deaths of employees working in construction zones," said Shawn Wilson, PhD, secretary of DOTD.

During this year's work zone awareness event, Paul Featherston, who was killed after a driver failed to stop in a work zone in Lafayette, was added to a memorial.

Orange cones are set up in front of DOTD Headquarters to symbolize highway workers killed in highway work zone related incidents across the US.

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