Practice Construction Zone Safety

With the federal stimulus money coming into Tennessee aimed at improving the highway infrastructure of our state, motorists are faced with many more construction zones that require particular attention to speed, distance between vehicles and avoidance of outside distractions such as cell phone, iPods and other electronic devices.

Unfortunately many Tennessee motorists still don’t get it. Witness a report from TV station WBBJ out of Jackson Tennessee about a 50-year old Memphis woman died Thursday in a fiery crash in Henderson County when she ignored a worker flagging traffic and rammed into a TDOT truck parked on the side of the road in a construction zone. Another driver suffered minor injuries.

Once again, from the point of view of an experienced Nashville automobile accident attorney, you have to wonder what this unfortunate lady was doing that kept her from seeing the worker flagging traffic. Our prayers go out to her family and friends. She either acted intentionally or she was somehow distracted and since most automobile fatalities occur when a driver is distracted, I would focus my investigation on her cell phone or other electronic devices and her autopsy on her blood alcohol count.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that highway and street construction workers are at risk of fatal and serious nonfatal injury when working in the vicinity of passing motorists, construction vehicles, and equipment. Each year, more than 100 workers are killed and over 20,000 are injured in the highway and street construction industry.

Historically, efforts to reduce vehicle-related worker injuries in this industry have focused on improving traffic control devices and work zone configurations to minimize confusion of motorists passing through the work zone and to limit collisions involving motorists.

The premise has been that by minimizing traffic collisions in work zones, worker injuries are minimized. But it appears that the real problem lies in the hands of the motorists who navigate these dangerous obstructions. It’s up to us, ladies and gentleman, we have to put aside the distractions and focus all of our Attention on the task at hand, and that task is piloting a deadly weapon through the normal obstacles we face everyday on the highways of Tennessee.

If you or a loved one is injured in a Nashville automobile accident involving a distracted driver in a construction zone contact the experienced Nashville automobile accident attorneys at Phillip Miller & Associates and find out about your rights and remedies. If you have been involved in an accident and are thinking of handling the negotiations with the other drivers insurance company on your own, you owe it to yourself to at least check out our website and educate yourself before undertaking this complicated and complex process.