The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is joining states across the nation to ask motorists to move over and slow down for highway workers, the department announced Monday in a press release.
TDOT will spread the message statewide this week, which is National Work Zone Awareness Week (April 11th-15th), to improve safety in Tennessee’s interstate and highway construction and maintenance work zones, the department notes.
TDOT’s overhead Dynamic Message Signs will display work zone safety messages on interstates in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, according to the department. Prominent buildings and bridges will be lighted in orange, and “Work with Us – Move Over, Slow Down” signs are posted at work zones across the state, displaying the message at various locations statewide, TDOT notes.
Throughout the week, TDOT will also be posting photos, infographics, and videos on social media to broaden awareness of the importance of driving safely and undistracted, especially through work zones.
TDOT launched the “Work with Us – Move Over, Slow Down” safety campaign five years ago to help bring awareness to the importance of safety in work zones.
“It’s been six years since our TDOT family lost three employees struck and killed by passing motorists, and it’s still fresh in our memories,” TDOT Interim Commissioner Joe Galbato said in a statement. “Hundreds of TDOT employees are working on our highways each day. We need motorists to work with us by moving over and slowing down for our workers and first responders along our interstates and state routes. We ask drivers to pay attention to signs, observe the hands-free law, reduce your speed, and move over when possible.”
Last year in Tennessee, 26 people died in work zone crashes and there were 4,034 crashes in work zones on Tennessee roads.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
