The California Department of Transportation announced three new safety initiatives on April 24 to improve highway work zone safety: lowering work-zone speed limits, allowing more space between workers and traffic, and expanding work “time windows” to give work crews more flexibility to work safer and get projects done faster, lessening the impact of roadway work on motorists.

[Above photo by Caltrans.]

“One death on our highway system – whether it’s a Caltrans employee, a resident, or someone visiting our great state – is one death too many,” Caltrans Director Laurie Berman in a statement.

“Speeding in a work zone is like gambling with lives. In the last five years, over 3,000 people nationwide lost their lives in work zone collisions and more than 85 percent of them were the motoring public,” she added. “And speed was a factor in 28 percent of those crashes.”