The North Carolina Department of Transportation is hosting National Work Zone Awareness Week
RIEGELWOOD, NC (WWAY) — The summer tourist season typically begins in early June, meaning millions of Americans will be driving to their summer vacation.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, peak construction season is March through fall, and that’s why drivers need to pay close attention if they’ll be on the roads this summer.
The NCDOT is hosting National Work Zone Awareness Week this week, which serves as a way to encourage safe driving through highway work zones.
The theme for this year’s work zone safety campaign is “Respect the zone, so we can go home.”
According to the American Traffic Safety Services Association, North Carolina saw more than 6,800 work zone crashes, resulting in 47 deaths in 2024.
“I’ve had one fatality in a work zone that I was present for,” Jason Sikora said.
Sikora has spent nearly 30 years in construction, and that death still weighs heavily.
“You almost can’t put into words the impact that has. It changes you. You don’t go back to who you were before you were around it. And the ones you’re near, again, you can’t help but revert back to that or think of your brother, your sister. You know, this is all family.”
Last April, construction worker Michelle Von Seggern was killed on Military Cutoff Road when she was struck by a drunk driver, Dakota Quinn Knight.
Knight pleaded guilty to felony death by motor vehicle and felony hit and run resulting in death back in March and was sentenced to between 51 and 83 months in prison.
In 2024, Von Seggern was one of only 2 construction workers killed in a work zone statewide. The majority of deaths were drivers, their passengers or pedestrians.
Eric Yates is Balfour Beatty’s environmental health and safety manager for the Southeast region.
He said there are several things drivers can do to ensure the safety of both themselves and construction workers.
“Slow down, put down the distractions, whatever that may be and pay attention to the signs,” Yates said. “The signs in our work zones and the barrels and cones are meant to give you instructions and direction.”
Both Yates and Sikora advocated for legislation to protect road workers.
“They’ve recognized the risk to both the public and construction workers. And we feel that, that, that there’s more work to be done.”
The legislation requires the DMV to develop a new work zone driving safety course, which includes work zone safety education and specific work zone questions on driving tests.
The program will go into effect on December 1st.
