News

Rude, speeding motorists put workers at risk

November 7, 2008

U.S. Group Photo

Rude, speeding motorists put workers at risk
By Bo Petersen,The Post and Courier
Friday, November 7, 2008
http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/nov/07/rude_speeding_motorists_put_workers_at_r60760/?print

Leroy Durant never saw it coming.

He was setting up traffic cones, one by one, to close off a lane on Interstate 26, walking in the dark with only a fluorescent vest and the arrow truck's blinking lights to separate him and the traffic blasting past. The work is dangerous anyway. It was about to get ugly.
As traffic speeds by, Leroy Durant (from left), works with Jimmy Primes, Tedrick McFadden and Ronald Nelson along Interstate 26 to put up lane-closure signs near Ashley Phosphate Road.


"I picked up a cone from the truck and — Bam!" he said. Something smacked his head as he turned and knocked him sideways. He looked down and saw a plastic fast-food cup with the ice splattered out.

"All I saw was lights. I mean, traffic just flies through there. They don't pay attention to the arrows. They don't pay attention to the barricades. They don't go the 45 mph speed limit; they go 60, 70, 80 mph."

Durant is 53 years old. He has a daughter in college. A cup coming at him at that speed is as hard as a rock. He and the other workers widening the interstate in North Charleston are worried for their lives. Traffic just isn't slowing down.

It's at its worst when the crew is most exposed — the early evening and early morning hours when they're trying to set out or remove equipment, the periods at the edges of the rush hours.

The out-of-my-way nastiness of interstate rush-hour traffic is notorious among Lowcountry commuters; U.S. Group crews are getting an unnerving taste of it, up close and personal. Onrushing cars don't move to open lanes when there's nothing but an arm's length between them and a crew. The cars roar past so fast workers feel it in the pit of their stomachs.

"You just have to watch your back, keep looking over your shoulder," Durant said.

One parked truck with a crew leader inside has been rear-ended by a car dodging a box spring that fell from a car in front of it. Another truck was beaned by a full soda bottle that just missed its crew leader. Some workers are calling the behavior the worst they have seen.

The S.C. Highway Patrol is running saturation patrols in the three-mile work zone. State Transport police have joined them. In the first three weeks of work, 400 tickets were written. In October, 212 more were written, even though rain slowed down the work. They're still writing tickets.

"This is a combined effort to slow these people down," said Lance Cpl. Bob Beres of the S.C. Highway Patrol. "We're urging drivers to help us. It's each individual driver's responsibility to pay attention to the speed limit, but also to know when they drive recklessly in these construction areas they are putting their lives in jeopardy, everybody else's lives in jeopardy, and most importantly, the workers' lives in jeopardy."

Drivers who throw things from cars in the work zone can expect the book thrown at them, and the saturation patrols will be supplemented by North Charleston police, officials said.

"We still have a serious speeding problem in the area, yes. To throw something out of a vehicle at a worker on that highway is just crazy. If we catch somebody doing that, we are really going to go after the prosecution every bit possible," said James Law, of the S.C. Transportation Department.

"They're out there. The blue lights are on. There still seems to be a lot of people out there driving really fast, above the speed limit and certainly too fast for conditions," said Greg Cook, U.S. Group vice president. He pleaded for drivers to slow down and be cautious around workers and collapsing lanes. "Really it's for their convenience that we're working at night."

The drivers' lack of concern is no surprise to Tony Munoz, of North Charleston, a daily commuter on the road.

"I would not want to work out there on that highway. The people just don't care. They're tailgating. They're cutting people off. They just don't want to take the time to get in line like they're supposed to and make it safer for everybody."

Story by Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.
Photo by Grace Beahm, The Post and Courier

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