Reducing The Hidden Death Toll Of Roadside Workers

Every month, two emergency responders, tow workers or road maintenance workers are struck and killed at the side of the road by a driver who fails to obey the law by moving over to an adjacent lane. A survey of those workers found that 60% had experienced a near miss while working at the roadside, and 15% had survived being hit by a passing vehicle.

But attention grabbing countermeasures to alert drivers can work.

Those are the highlights of research released earlier this year by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research and education association, to determine what could make roadside workers more visible to motorists.

“We examined this safety challenge because these crashes are avoidable if drivers slow down and move over to allow roadside workers the space to carry out their duties safely,” David Yang, president and executive director of the AAA Foundation, said in a statement.

Roadside jobs to help stranded motorists on the side of the road are among America’s deadliest, according to the studies, which quoted federal data. Roadside crashes, for example, kill tow workers at a rate of almost 43 deaths per 100,000 workers, compared to just three for all other industries.

All 50 states have “move over” laws that require drivers to slow down or change lanes when first responders like police, EMS, fire, and tow trucks are on the roadside, and some states have laws requiring drivers to change lanes or slow down when approaching a broken-down vehicle. In addition, highway speeds that are often over 65 mph may make it more difficult for motorists to spot and react to incident response personnel.

Overall, motorist awareness and compliance are inconsistent, researchers said.

To address the problem, in addition to the survey, the safety group conducted two field studies on busy roads to evaluate how well different types of countermeasures work to protect roadside workers.

In its analysis, an activated electronic vehicle-mounted variable message sign (VMS) was found to be effective: drivers changed lanes and slowed down more than when the VMS was not operating. The odds of a vehicle moving over, according to the research, were 95% higher when the VMS was used, according to the studies.

Other countermeasures, like cones, flares, and emergency flashing light patterns, were also found effective. They led to significant lane shifts by drivers, but were less effective at reducing speeds or increasing the distance to the passing vehicles that did not change lanes.

Researchers said employing roadside VMS, nighttime light patterns, cones, or flares “can positively impact the behaviors of passing motorists under most circumstances,” but educating drivers about the need to obey move-over laws was also critical to saving lives.

“We must help motorists see and react appropriately whenever an emergency responder is on the side of the road,” Yang added.

For more information about the studies and survey, click here.