Car and truck accidents often occur because of construction on the roadway, construction markings/barriers, or sometimes by driver negligence as they approach and react to a construction zone where there are workmen. According to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), there are far too many fatal accidents or serious personal injury which take place in road construction areas on the highways which could have been prevented if the driver would drive slowly and be vigilant while driving through the construction zone. Currently the Indiana Police and the Indiana Dept. of Transportation are working together to keep drivers aware, alert and under the speed limit while driving through construction zones. A lot of their efforts involve putting the uniformed troopers into INDOT pickup trucks parked around the highway worksites. If people do not slow down, they may get pulled over and ticketed. Just recently, a construction worker died in a multi-car accident on the east side of Indianapolis at 30th street and Franklin Road. Once again, the driver causing the accident was speeding through a construction zone. The driver hit a propane tank before hitting a construction flagger who was directing traffic away from the crew that was building a barrier on Interstate 465. The worker hit by the car died at the scene. http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-multivehicle-accident-at-30th-st-Franklin-Road-20111006,0,790331.column.
It is believed that for the past several years, approximately 500 worker deaths occur nationally in work zone traffic accidents annually. In the past several years various governmental agencies have been obtaining construction auto accident data. However, despite efforts, there is a lack of reasonable accident information obtained from police and public agencies responsible for work zone safety. 
The Transportation Research Board uses this figure (500) in establishing a research program priority. Despite this assumption, the best research data show that there are substantially fewer fatalities than estimated by the TRB. Police reports vary across the county in what is reported and seldom clearly indicate “construction site” accidents or involvement in causing the accident. Often, reports do not give sufficient details necessary to analyze accident cases. The information that is generally in police reports make it impossible for researchers to analyze and draw conclusions about construction work zone safety. There is currently no consistent reporting system to reliably obtain crash data.
In New Mexico, at the Transportation Research Board, a research paper by Hall and Lorenz did a study in a single State, New Mexico. The study emphasizes the problem in construction zone accident reporting and a lack of adequate information about safety. The research team did examine construction zone accidents on New Mexico’s rural highways between ‘ 83 and ‘85. They collected all accident reports, no matter how they were coded and matched these reports with construction projects during those years. The research team compared these car accident reports with accident reports made the year prior to the construction areas in these same boundaries and roadways. This study shows that the current accident reporting system is severely flawed. Hundreds of accidents in construction work sites were not recorded as construction zone-related accidents on the accident reports. This study also showed that auto and truck vehicular accidents increase by 26% during construction (with interstate highways showing the most significant increase) to 33%. The study did note that certain accident characteristics are overrepresented in construction zone accidents such as rear-end collisions and multiple-vehicle accidents. They also found there was no significant change in pedestrian accidents despite construction workers being present. This study concluded that the frequency of accidents in construction zones is substantially greater than indicated by the accident record system used by researchers. www.usroads.com/journals/rmej/9905/rm990501.htm. Despite the lack of reliable data, most researchers believe that construction zone fatalities are on the rise.
Federal laws require the Secretary of Transportation to develop and implement work zone safety programs to improve work zone safety of construction sites and to develop uniform accident reporting of fatalities, injuries, and certain specified accident types which include the work zone accidents. Despite this, the Highway Safety Information System has encountered a number of problems in analyzing the data. Because of the problems of completeness and accuracy, there has been attempt by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration to have uniform information be included in police reports throughout the country indicating whether or not the auto/truck accident happened in a construction or work zone. Currently, it is believed that approximately only 14 states have an explicit data element in a databox for this information. In a comparison to the 1988 – 1989 data with the 1991 – 1992 data in those areas, the data appears to be unreliable. Indeed, the Michigan Department of Transportation did a similar study that showed about 85% of all police-coded work zone accidents occurred in work zones. However, based on limited investigation of the four States selected, as many as 77% of the crashes that did occur with the four zones were not coded as work zone accidents. One explanation for all of this is that the police officer may interpret work zone accident variables to fly only when a construction activity was present or had an influence on the accident. These results support the need for better work zone definitions and suggest that even an explicit data element may not ensure that all work zone crashes are identified. All studies currently are based on very limited data. Very few studies have attempted to explicitly consider exposure to work zone activities or to develop work zone accident rates that account for the difference in exposure. For more information regarding this, you may contact Jeffrey Paniati, Chief of FHWA, Design Division of the Office of Safety and Traffic Operations, at 703-285-2057. http://www.hsisinfo.org/pdf/zone.htm.
Recently, in Pittsburgh, investigative reporting was done which revealed that more than one-half of the vehicles passing through a construction zone on Interstate 79 in Washington County were speeding. The investigators report that the only time that vehicles slowed was at the sight of a uniformed state trooper aiming a radar gun. The investigators report that police and traffic safety experts say it is part of a nationwide indifference to work zone speed limits. All of this is contrary to the advertising campaigns and new laws that emphasize the safety of construction workers. The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that fatality rates for highway workers were twice that for other types of construction workers. It is reported that recent studies have concluded that doubling the fines in work zones has had no impact on motorists’ habits or fatality rates. Apparently, the only effective measure is having police in marked vehicles stationed near construction workers. http://www.workzonesafety.org/research/record/770.
Nearly all states have increased penalties for speeding or committing other traffic violations while driving in a construction work zone. Often the enhanced penalty consists of doubling the applicable fine had the traffic violation been committed outside the construction zone. In others, there is a fixed dollar amount or range. Thirty-two (32) states and the District of Columbia have doubled the fine for speeding, 24 states and the D.C. require workers to be present in a construction zone for the increased penalties to take effect, and 41 states and the District indicate that signs must be posted to alert drivers of the enhanced penalties. For an itemization of all of these various new traffic statutes, see www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/workzone_laws.html. Sources for this information found on this website are from the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse and the State Highway Safety Offices.
In Indiana, there are laws that require you to slow down or move over when you see vehicles and construction zone warnings on the side of the road with flashing lights on. Governor Mitch Daniels has recently signed a new law to make construction zones even safer. Already there are speed limit restrictions and the new law calls for fines up to $1,000 for people who break law in construction zones three (3) times within three (3) years. There are also fines for up to $5,000 for driving recklessly/aggressively in construction zones. Drivers who injure or kill a highway worker could end up paying a $10,000 fine and serve a maximum of eight (8) years behind bars if convicted. There will be signs posted to warn Indiana motorists of the consequences violating these specific laws. If you have computer access and need to know about traffic updates and road conditions in the Indianapolis area, particularly I-465 and the construction and road updates, you can go to http://pws.trafficwise.org/ipws/ci/. For general statewide information, see http://www.in.gov/indot/2351.htm.
For construction workers who are hurt in these construction sites, under Indiana workers compensation laws, an employee cannot sue his or her employer for on-the-job construction injuries. The construction workers’ compensation claim typically pays out partial lost wages, medical expenses and a compensation schedule for permanent injuries and in Indiana the benefits are generally inadequate. While an employee cannot sue their employer under sole remedy exclusion set forth in the Workers Compensation Act, workers can sue non-coworkers, third parties or other entities who are responsible (as a result of their negligence) for their injuries. You will need to meet with an experienced attorney to evaluate these claims.
If you or a loved one has been hurt, seriously injured or killed in a construction work zone accident, you should contact an experienced attorney. My law firm Mitchell Hurst Dick & McNelis LLC, has represented victims of construction accidents throughout the State of Indiana. If you would like to contact us, call 1-800-636-0808 for a free consultation. We only charge a fee when we win your case. See our website: www.billhurst.com.
Distracted drivers cause most motor vehicle accidents. Studies show that distracted drivers are a leading cause of motor vehicle accidents. Whenever you are driving in a motor vehicle and your attention is not on the road, you are putting yourself, your passengers, other vehicles and pedestrians in danger. In the late 1970’s Indiana University’s “Study of Pre-crash Factors Involved in Traffic Accidents” identified driver inattention as the leading cause of automobile accidents in Indiana. Current research tells us that something between 25% to 50% of all motor vehicle crashes in the United States have driver distraction as the root cause. 
