Thousands of people are injured or killed in work zone accidents every year, including pedestrian workers and people in passenger cars.
With today’s commercial and residential growth, it’s not uncommon to see construction crews along freeways and city streets. It helps to have improved roads to drive on, but roadway construction causes a danger for motorists and construction crews alike. The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles reported 3,828 nonfatal personal injury crashes and 94 fatal crashes involving large trucks in New York in 2013. Some of these accidents involved trucks at construction sites.
Many people are killed and many more are involved in serious injury crashes due to work zones every year in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 609 people were killed in work zone accidents in 2012. More than 75 percent of deadly roadway work zone occupational injuries that year were transportation incidents; in 67 percent of these incidents, a pedestrian worker was hit by a vehicle.
Common factors that cause work zone accidents
Summer and fall are the most common times of the year in which accidents involving construction vehicles and/or work zones occur, says the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Numerous factors can combine to make driving through a work zone dangerous, including:
- Speeding or reckless driving
- Alcohol use
- Collision between passenger vehicles and construction equipment
- Rear-end crashes due to slow traffic on normally high-speed roadways
Crashes are often caused by construction vehicles backing over or running into pedestrians (usually construction workers) or passing traffic. This is especially true of dump trucks.
Fiery crash caused by dump truck in August
The previous fact was illustrated last summer when a dump truck driver lost control of his vehicle on Interstate 280 in New Jersey. NBC 4 New York reported that five other vehicles were involved in the crash, which caused one car to burst into flames. Tragically, the driver and two passengers of that car were killed, while four other people received minor injuries.
It was not reported whether this crash occurred in a work zone. Regardless, if the truck driver or trucking company were determined to be at fault, the injured parties might wish to pursue compensation for their injuries.
Contacting an attorney
If you or a loved one are injured in a work zone crash and the accident occurred through someone else’s negligence, it’s important to contact an experienced personal injury attorney. Medical bills caused by accidents that involved large trucks or construction equipment can be overwhelming for one family to endure. An attorney can help you determine if you may be eligible for compensation.
Keywords: truck, pedestrian, accident, injury
