WASHINGTON – Regional transportation departments are urging drivers to be particularly cautious when passing work crews out on the highway throughout Nationwide Work Zone Consciousness Week.

The warning comes lower than a month after a tragic crash and forward of a number of freeway initiatives which are nearly to begin again up.

Final month, six building employees have been killed after a driver crashed into a piece zone in Baltimore County. In Maryland, 46 folks have died during the last 5 years in work zone crashes.

In Virginia, officers say 22 folks have been killed final yr in crashes in freeway work zones. VDOT says that nationwide, greater than 80 p.c of people that die in work zone crashes aren’t the employees they are saying it’s drivers or passengers.

“The statistics inform us that highway employees are up there near firefighters and law enforcement officials with the hazard degree, and if you consider it, it is sensible,” mentioned Ken Slack of the Virginia Division of Transportation.