It’s important to stay safe in road work zones.
If you are driving 65 mph in a 45 mph zone, do you know how much time you save? According to the Federal Highway Administration, you are only saving 25 seconds per mile. Is it worth putting yourself and others in danger for the incremental time savings? It’s a good tip to especially pay attention to the speed limit in road work zones, since workers are exposed and are also operating heavy machinery. Here are a few more road work safety tips to help keep yourself, as well as road workers, safe.
Road Work Safety
We all play our part to make our communities better. While workers are doing their part to maintain the roads, you play a crucial role in helping traffic to flow by smoothly. Here are a few things you can do to make sure you are keeping yourself and your passengers safe when driving past a road work site:
- Minimize distractions. Press the pause button on whatever you’re doing and put your full attention on the road. Many people tend to rubberneck around construction sites because they are looking at the road work instead of at the road. Avoid changing your music, eating, or other distractions so that you can be fully aware of the road workers and of other potentially distracted drivers.
- Pay attention to signage. If a familiar road is undergoing road work, pay close attention to the signage; the speed you’re used to driving may not be the same. Oftentimes, the speed limits in a road work zone will be minimized in order to protect the workers who may be working mere feet away from moving traffic. Also watch for other signage that may indicate merging lanes, a change in traffic flow, or a detour.
- Expect the Unexpected. Road work zones are more dangerous than regular roadways because behavior can be unexpected. Not only are the speed limit and traffic patterns different from how they normally are, but traffic can act erratically as well. Watch out for cars that come to a sudden stop or suddenly switch lanes.
ABOUT RELIABLE CONTRACTING
Reliable is dedicated to delivering quality products, displaying professionalism within the firm, seeking new opportunities for expansion and profitability, and providing an environment for individual success. If you have a commercial or residential construction project that you need taken care of, please contact Anne Arundel County’s largest site-work contractor today by calling 410-987-0313 or visiting our website. You can also follow Reliable Contracting on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter!
Reliable Contracting Company serves the following and surrounding counties: Annapolis, Queen Anne’s, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Baltimore City, Calvert, Caroline, Charles, Howard, Prince George, St. Mary’s, Talbot, and Washington D.C.