The National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA) last week launched a multimedia messaging campaign to highlight the dangers to road crews in work zones.
NAPA unveiled the "WatchForUs" campaign, which targets distracted driving, for National Work Zone Awareness Week observed April 9‒13. The goal is to remind drivers to pay attention while driving through work zones.
Other groups working to support and promote the campaign include the Asphalt Pavement Alliance, Asphalt Institute, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), American Traffic Safety Services Association, and National Sand, Stone and Gravel Association.
The launch of the campaign featured a fictionalized short film called "A Moment Can Save a Life,” which was released on the “Watch for Us” website. The video dramatizes the lifelong effects a work-zone accident can have on a family. Along with it are video testimonials from actual road builders describing events that left coworkers dead or crippled to show viewers the potential real-life consequences of distracted drivers crashing into work zones.
An infographic that NAPA created for the campaign said that of the 765 people who died from 2016 work-zone crashes, 19% were road workers, 14% were pedestrians and 65% were drivers and passengers of motor vehicles.
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Source: AASHTO Journal
