Oct 3, 2014
Highway Workers Killed on Roads
Sometimes the highways where crews are working can be particularly dangerous
places. In North Carolina recently, a worker was killed, according to
Construction Worker Killed in Crash in Interstate Work Zone in Morganton. In that horrific scene, a Ford pickup truck hit and killed 43 year old
Flavio James, and seriously injured another worker.
Stories abound of workers killed when working on or alongside a roadway:
• In August, a female driver of a black Mercedes veered off the road
in San Jose California and
seriously injured two men, one of whom later died.
• Another fatality happened in August, as reported in
Highway Worker Killed in Crash on PGBT: “Investigators said a construction convoy that consisted of a large
truck with a large blinking arrow and a pickup truck carrying a trailer
was going at a very slow speed in the shoulder… Francisco Castillo,
24, of Grand Prairie, was driving a Chevrolet Impala when he approached
the convoy and went around the first truck, but then hit the truck with
the trailers.”
• In July, a Florida man was killed.
Drunk driver kills highway construction worker in Port Charlotte reports that despite the fact that “the construction truck was outfitted
with an amber flashing arrow and numerous amber flashing lights to alert
drivers to the construction work at the site… Christopher Alan
Best, 26, was speeding when he slammed his Oldsmobile into a road construction
truck, pinning the workers between the vehicles.”
The road is a dangerous place to work.
According to the
CDC, “The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 101 worker fatalities at
road construction sites in 2008, 116 in 2009, 106 in 2010, 122 in 2011,
and 130 in 2012.”
Between 2003 and 2012, Georgia was the 7th most dangerous state when it
came to worker deaths in roadway work zones. Texas was the most dangerous
state. In 67% of the transportation incidents, a vehicle struck a pedestrian worker.
Was your loved one killed while at work on a highway? Such an injury may
mean compensation is available under worker’s compensation laws.
Nate Hansford can help you understand if you have a case. Contact Nate
by phone at 770-922-3660.
