This spring, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) will begin a six-month pilot project for the 2008 Construction Season to see how well new technology can slow work zone traffic to improve safety for workers, drivers and their passengers.
In April, drivers on US 2/97 will see new signs that tell them the work zone speed limit is photo-enforced at the Big-Y, Peshastin East Interchange project. There and at other projects around the state, automated traffic safety camera systems will be photographing license plates of vehicles as they speed through work zones. This test program was authorized by the 2007 Legislature.
WSDOT will run speed studies before and after the camera equipment is set up in each test location and report to the 2009 Legislature. “We are trying something new to make the work zones safer,” said Mike Dornfeld, WSDOT Traffic Operations, “Our goal is to get drivers to voluntarily slow down in the work zone, not to issue a bunch of $137 infractions.”
There are close to 2,000 traffic incidents each year in state highway work zones. While high-profile incidents have decreased, smaller ones that block traffic and cause lesser injuries keep going up. From 2001 to 2006, fatal work zone collisions decreased by 41 percent, but those other collisions have increased by nearly 60 percent, from 686 in ‘01 to 1,097 in 2006. The top two causes of work zone crashes are speeding and inattentive driving. More of them are rear-enders than any other collision type.