Wyer on National Work Zone Awareness Week: "Driver Distractions Are A Huge Challenge"

Summary: Work zone ahead. Flagger ahead. Be prepared to stop. Traffic fines double when workers are present. These are just a few of the signs you might see in any work zone along Texas highways. But for some motorists, those warning signs aren't enough to get their attention. As a result, there were more than 15,000 wrecks in Texas work zones in 2009, which resulted in more than 100 fatalities. And here's the kicker - four out of five of those fatalities were drivers or their passengers, not construction workers. To help raise awareness of the caution required of both workers and motorists in work zones, TxDOT is teaming up with the Federal Highway Administration to support National Work Zone Awareness Week, which begins Monday. For more on National Work Zone Awareness Week, I spoke with Jerral Wyer, Director of TxDOT's Occupational Safety Division.