For the past decade, the United States has averaged about 1,000 highway work zone fatalities.

That number really hit me when I read that the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) urges an effort to cut that number in half within two years, particularly as it appears that stimulus-funded projects will increase.

Because while a goal of saving 500 lives is wonderful … you can also look at this as a goal of “only” 500 deaths.

This is not to take anything away from the AGC goal. Shooting for zero deaths would sound great but be completely unrealistic, based on the trend.

It’s just chilling to think of that many dying on the job—in a good year. No, in a stupendous and record-breaking year.

Maybe knowing the numbers will make us more alert and careful when we next see the traffic vests.

To quote the CEO of AGC:  “It shouldn’t cost a life to rebuild a road or repair a bridge.”

Image © Stephen Jacoby – Fotolia.com

By Keith

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.