Raising public awareness about work zone safety
Every eight hours, someone dies in a roadway work zone crash. Every three days, one of them is a road worker.
To help increase the public's awareness of work zone safety issues, the week of April 3–9, 2005, has been designated the Fifth National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW). Sponsored by the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), AASHTO, and FHWA, the campaign consists of special events around the country.
The theme for this year's NWZAW focuses on enforcement: "SLOW DOWN OR PAY UP."
What can you do?
Local agencies are encouraged to plan public-awareness events in their jurisdictions during the campaign. Ideas and information are available online, www.atssa.com/public/nwzaw.asp.
For example, agencies can send news releases to local media highlighting Iowa work zone crash statistics (state-specific data can be found on the website). Posters for public display will soon be available from the site.
For more information
Contact James Baron, ATSSA director of communications, JimB@atssa.com, 800-272-8772.
Updates about the campaign will be sent automatically to the NWZAW e-mail listserv. To be added to the list, e-mail JimB@atssa.com; type "NWZAW LIST" in the subject line.
