A PennDOT flagger had a close call with an inattentive driver on Route 66 in Westmoreland County while another state road worker was struck and injured by a driver who ignored a detour in Fayette County.
Those are two instances of road work zone infractions and collisions that PennDOT and state police are trying to curb during an aggressive driving campaign that ends Sunday.
Officials are calling attention to such hazards as distracted driving, speeding and failing to heed signs in construction areas.
“Motorists need to recognize that aggressive behaviors like speeding, tailgating and failing to obey signage put lives at risk and will not be tolerated,” state Trooper Tristan Tappe said. Tappe discussed work zone safety during a media event Friday at the PennDOT stockpile on Henrys Road in Unity.
Statewide, there were 1,250 crashes reported in work zones last year — resulting in 22 fatalities and 550 injuries. That total increased from 1,216 in 2023.
According to PennDOT data, in 2024 there were 1,507 crashes involving aggressive driving in Westmoreland County, resulting in six fatalities. Also last year, there were 14 work zone crashes in Westmoreland, with one person killed as a result.
In the three-year period from 2022 through 2024, there were 79 work zone crashes in the county (including 43 in 2022 and 22 in 2023) — involving two fatalities, four suspected serious injuries and 21 suspected minor injuries.
PennDOT District 12 Executive Rachel Duda said, “We have multiple active work zones, including in Westmoreland County, and our crews are out there every day improving roadways under increasingly hazardous conditions.
“Work zones are high-risk areas for workers and motorists. One of the biggest threats they face is speeding motorists.”
District 12 encompasses four counties, Westmoreland, Fayette, Washington and Greene.
Drivers need to turn on their headlights and strictly follow posted speed limits when in work zones, said Tappe, a state police community affairs officer.
“Put down any kind of handheld distraction such as cellphones, tablets, GPS devices — anything that can distract you from seeing signage warning you that there’s a construction zone ahead or a speed limit sign,” she said.
Among the tools available to help enforce safe driving in targeted work zones are vehicle-mounted cameras that detect drivers who exceed speed limits by 11 mph or more.
Last year, Duda said, there were nearly 2,500 deployments of the cameras across Pennsylvania, resulting in more than 212,000 violation notices to motorists.
John Campbell of Unity has worked for PennDOT for 17 years and is foreman of a road crew based in the Bell Township community of Salina.
“We’ve had a few close calls and some encounters with speeders,” he said, noting traffic on Routes 66 and 22 and Interstate 70 can be particularly hazardous.
That hazard is present whether crews are setting up a work zone, in the midst of a job or clearing away work signs — but it’s especially a concern during the morning commute, he said.
Campbell asked drivers to practice patience in work zones.
“Give us time to do what we need to do and get you through the work zone safely,” he said, recalling a near-crash that happened about three years ago while his crew was installing a drainage inlet on Route 66.
“We almost had a flagger hit,” he said. “He had to drop the (stop/slow) paddle and run. The driver wasn’t paying attention. He said he couldn’t see the signs and just kept on motoring through.”
Campbell said he believes work zone safety may be improved by a recently introduced PennDOT sign that uses a symbol and words to notify drivers they are required by law to obey flaggers.
“It’s another layer of information for the driver,” said Robb Dean, assistant District 12 executive for maintenance. He said the sign can be placed at the end of a series of signs that gradually alert drivers they are approaching a work area, a one-lane traffic restriction and a flagger.
In a more recent incident, Duda said, a driver ignored a detour and a verbal warning not to enter a Fayette County work zone. The driver continued on even after striking a PennDOT crew member on a section of Banning Road in Lower Tyrone that was closed to traffic for a bridge project.
“The worker had bolts in his pockets,” Duda said. “When the driver came through, they hit him, and both of his upper legs were extremely bruised.”
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She said that driver is being sought on a potential felony charge.
“That was a slow-moving vehicle,” she said. “Imagine if you were working on a (highway) or interstate, how fast people are driving and what could have happened there.
“We do have people that knowingly enter our work zone just because they don’t want to use the detour. That is a big problem, and that’s illegal. When somebody does that, we are going to prosecute them.”
Tappe said motorists should use the same level of caution when driving through a work zone as when they encounter a school zone.
“You have people crossing just like you have small children crossing,” she said. “They’re operating heavy equipment, so they can’t divert their attention multiple different ways. They have to focus on what they’re doing, so it’s important for you as a driver to focus so you don’t hit a pedestrian that’s working or you don’t hit (a vehicle) that’s trying to merge into the flow of traffic.
“Be cognizant of your surroundings and slow down. Because the faster you drive, the faster you have to think.”