This article originally appeared in WILX. Read more here.
Officials are asking people to slow down and pay attention, especially in construction zones. In 2023, Michigan work zones had 20 fatalities, 1,896 injuries, and 7,237 crashes. That’s according to a preliminary report from the Michigan Department of Transportation.
Traveling at high speeds on the highway, construction slow downs can be extremely dangerous if you’re not paying attention. Distracted driving paired with a work-zone back-up killed a woman in Clinton County on Wednesday according to Michigan State Police.
“We have injuries to drivers involved, but we also have one fatality. Driver wasn’t paying attention or didn’t know what was going on, but failed to stop when the traffic was slowed for the construction,” said Lt. Rene Gonzalez, with Michigan State Police.
Lt. Gonzalez says it’s just like what happened in Ingham County on Monday. According to officials, a semi-truck over corrected in a construction zone, hitting two road workers in a parked truck.
“Just not paying attention, driving too fast for the speeds,” said Lt. Gonzalez.
“Unfortunately, it takes something like that to happen to make people more aware sometimes,” said Chuck Bergmann, with the Michigan Department of Transportation.
State troopers are now sitting with lights on at the start and end of certain work zones, to catch driver’s attention and hopefully prevent tragedy.
“Last year we had two workers struck and killed in our work zones, and it’s been an average number over the last few years, that we’ve had a couple workers killed every year,” said Bergmann.
As traffic starts to pick up for holiday travel, they urge drivers to take extra care so everyone can get home safely.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation, nearly 2.6 million Michiganders are expected to travel for the 4th of July. They say some construction zones will stop work for the holiday, but not all.