Seeing the LED signage, pylons and construction barrels denoting road work ahead can mean a slightly longer commute. Road work often means restricting traffic to fewer lanes and reducing the speed of traffic near the construction zone.
You might think with everyone being aware of the need to merge and to drive more slowly that locations with road construction would have much safer drivers in general. Unfortunately, the opposite is actually true.
Road construction might increase your risk of getting into a crash. Why might road work translate into more collisions?
Road construction demands attention, making distraction more dangerous
Quite a few people that you pass on your daily commute are distracted drivers. They look down at their phone, type messages while driving or otherwise focus on something other than their environment and safe driving practices.
Construction zones often mean merging lanes of traffic to accommodate a closure, slowed or stopped traffic, and unusual visual stimuli nearby. Drivers who are already distracted might not merge or slow down, possibly rear-ending someone else. It’s also possible for the road crew to distract drivers passing the construction zone as they rubberneck to look at cement trucks or other machinery.
Distraction is one of the biggest contributing factors to construction site crashes. Distracted drivers are 29 times more likely than others to cause construction zone crashes.
There might be a bright side to getting struck by a distracted driver near road work
Obviously, the best-case scenario for any driver is to arrive at their destination without delay or any sort of danger. A crash is something you’d prefer to avoid. However, if one happens, a construction zone might be one of the better places for it to occur.
Some of the large machinery used by road workers may have cameras recording nearby traffic for review in the event of an incident. There will also likely be multiple other drivers and road workers nearby who can serve as witnesses to validate the other driver’s fault in your crash.
Additionally, officers will have a greater incentive to cite the responsible driver at the scene because the fine for breaking traffic laws doubles in construction zones under Florida state law.
