CHARLESTON, W.Va. –“Safe actions save lives” is being stressed by state and local officials in West Virginia during National Work Zone Awareness Week.

“It sounds simple but, in the field, it is a matter of life and death, work zones are temporary, but the risks are permanent,” State Transportation Secretary Steven Todd Rumbaugh said Wednesday during a work zone safety press conference. “Last year hundreds of people across the country lost their lives in work zone crashes and here’s the sobering truth the majority of those killed aren’t just workers, they are drivers and their passengers.”

Rumbaugh was joined by law enforcement, contractors, and state and federal officials to commemorate Go Orange Day, which is part of Work Zone Awareness Week.

In 2025, there were 800 crashes in West Virginia highway work zones, resulting in 301 injuries and five deaths. Those deaths included James Harper, 24, a West Virginia Turnpike worker who was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on Interstate 77. The driver swerved to avoid a dump truck and struck Harper with the trailer.

State and local officials used the news conference to urge motorists to pay attention in work zones.

Contractors Association of West Virginia CEO Jason Pizatella said everyone deserves to go home safely after working to ensure the roads are safe.

“These men and women, as the pastor said, are fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles who put their lives at risk to improve our highway system and they deserve to do so safely to benefit all West Virginians and those who visit here,” Pizatella said.

Go Orange Day was first introduced in Virginia in 1997 and became part of a nationwide campaign with Work Zone Awareness Week in 2000.

Governor’s Highway Safety Program representative Amy Boggs said they want motorists to follow a few key safety practices in highway work zones.

“We need you to pay attention, we need you to not speed, we need you take responsibility for what you do out on the roadways, whether you’re driving, you’re a passenger, you’re on a bicycle or a motorcycle, whether you’re walking or in a wheelchair you need to take responsibility for what you can take responsibility for,” Boggs said.

Rumbaugh said officials ask motorists to put their phones down while driving, slow down in work zones, and expect the unexpected because work zones are always changing.

He said people need to ensure that work zone safety remains an everyday commitment.

“Work zone safety isn’t just a department initiative, it’s a driver’s responsibility, and while today (Wednesday) is Go Orange Day, as I’ve said before it isn’t a phrase we acknowledge for a day, for a week, or a month every year it’s a front of mind commitment,”

Pizatella said that if everyone puts in an effort to ensure work zone safety, they can make 2026 a safe year.

“You’re efforts and everyone here today protect the men and women out there building a better West Virginia, if we all do our part, we can make the 2026 construction season the very safest on record,” he said.

MetroNews Jack Carlson contributed to this story