Better Construction Practices has rolled out an informative traffic awareness campaign in a bid to increase road construction safety.

The new initiative includes two different informative articles that highlight the two main aspects of reducing road construction fatalities, which grew by 7% in 2016.

These two articles include ‘Safer driving’ and ‘The importance of traffic control signs’.

Reasons for the growth in road construction fatalities include distracted driving, speeding, high volumes of traffic, and increased road construction projects on a national level.

“The report further points out that at least 500 out of 3,300 deaths over the past five years were directly attributed to distracted driving near road work zones.”

National Safety Council data shows that the overall traffic fatality rates are at record highs for the second year in a row.

According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, these numbers continue to rise regardless of improved vehicle safety measures such as collision mitigation systems.

Nearly 765 road construction zone deaths were reported in 2016, with 143 worker fatalities. In a work zone related crash, the driver or passenger of a vehicle is more likely to die than a worker. In recent years, 30% to 40% of these crashes are rear-end collisions.

The report further points out that at least 500 out of 3,300 deaths over the past five years were directly attributed to distracted driving near road work zones.

Iowa witnessed an overall decrease in vehicular deaths in 2017. However, the number of fatalities in road work zones specifically is still increasing at an alarming rate for the second year. Fatalities decreased by 5% where the state launched an education campaign and slashed their total number of road construction projects.

In Texas, construction zone deaths surged 9% from 2016 to 2017.

The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) offers guidelines for the types and implementation of traffic control devices used in road work zones.

Betterconstructionpractices.com noted that these traffic control signs are a crucial method of moving traffic through road work zones effectively and safely.