"I love my job and there is nothing I would rather be doing, but it is dangerous. People don't realize how dangerous it is. Almost every one of us out there have had to jump off of the road to avoid getting hit at some time or another because people are not paying attention while they are driving. And we have had people who didn't get out of the way fast enough.

"Drivers have to slow down and pay attention while they are driving — that's the big thing.

"There is a lot of construction and work on the roads and I understand that people get frustrated, but if they don't follow the rules at a work zone they are endangering our lives and their own lives.

"We have families like everyone else and we love our families. Some of us have kids, some of us are taking care of elderly parents or other family members. We want to go home to our families at the end of the day just like everyone else."

Work zones conditions are often very different than typical driving conditions. This makes the road you are used to traveling feel foreign and unpredictable, like driving in a new city!  

Work zones include everything from sudden slowdowns to temporary signs and lane changes that can surprise drivers on their regular routes. These dynamic areas can even change multiple times throughout the day! 

When driving through a work zone, slow down and don't assume you know what's around the next bend. ​

"We have all had close calls in work zones, but one unusual incident I remember is the woman who fell asleep at our work zone.We have all had close calls in work zones, but one unusual incident I remember is the woman who fell asleep at our work zone.

"I was flagging ... in Venango County on a ditching operation and this car was approaching the work zone. It was coming slowly, but it didn't look like it was going to stop. I thought for sure it was going to drive into the work zone, but finally it did stop. Then, when it was time to turn the stop paddle and let cars go, that car didn't go. I looked in and the lady had fallen asleep. She was an older lady and she had fallen asleep at the wheel in front of my stop paddle. I woke her up by tapping on the window and suggested that she pull over — off the road. She did pull over for a while, then drove off.

"There have been lots of times when people have driven past the stop paddles at work zones. What they usually say is 'I didn’t see you. You blend in,' even though we have stop paddles and there are cones and signs. People are just not paying attention. They are putting our lives and their own lives in danger by not paying attention while they are driving."

​Even when no work is happening, you'll often see signage and closed lanes in a work zone. This is because it isn't feasible or efficient to remove the work zone and signs every time work is paused. Barriers, cones, and barrels could also be protecting motorists from drop-offs or construction equipment on the side of the road! 

By keeping a work zone in place, the job gets done more efficiently and returns the road to typical conditions sooner for all drivers.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the many reports PennDOT employees are able to share.

Bob Nicklas is a father, hunter, mentor and PennDOT employee. He thoroughly enjoys pheasant hunting with his bird dogs and, most of all, mentoring young licensed hunters who appreciate the same passion for pheasant hunting. Bob and his brothers have taken numerous children hunting over the years, who otherwise would not have had the opportunity.

"I love to teach the kids how to be responsible hunters and share in their enthusiasm for hunting," Nicklas said.

He is a father who has mentored his children in hunting and shared his passion for the great outdoors. Bob continues to work as a Transportation Construction Inspector in the Posted and Bonded Roads Unit for District 2.

​Rear-end crashes from running into slow or stopped vehicles are the most common type of crash in a work zone. These crashes can be fatal if drivers are not paying attention or driving too fast to slow down in time. That's why staying alert and watching for brake lights in front of you is important. 

When you start slowing down, turn on your hazard lights and watch for vehicles approaching behind you. Always leave enough room between you and the vehicle in front of you to react in case approaching vehicles are distracted and don't slow down in time. 

"I came around the car to ask if the driver was OK. He was an elderly man and he said he had never seen the signs, the road flares, the flagger, or the stopped vehicle in front of him. That day could have had very different results had the driver pushed the other vehicle into our flagger.

"When you are driving through a work zone, we are not robots, we're not replaceable, and we are real people. If you hit one of us, the inattentiveness of your driving could have an irreversible consequence.

"We are out there working, trying to make our lives better, not only for us but for the traveling public, the people of Pennsylvania. That is what we are here for, to make sure it is safe for your family to get where they need to be going, but you need to be watching for us while you are traveling from point A to point B because we are somewhere in between, most of the time."

​There are several ways drivers can get speeding tickets in work zones, even if they don't see a police vehicle nearby! The Work Zone Speed Safety Cameras program is a joint effort between PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike that uses vehicle-mounted systems to detect the speed of passing vehicles. Any motorist excessively speeding is mailed a notice of violation. There are also times when Pennsylvania State Troopers will sit inside construction vehicles to watch for speeding drivers. ​

"Although nobody was injured, it was a stark reminder of how quickly a crash can occur when motorists are not alert. The state police were working in the work zone so they were on the scene quickly."​

​Typically, when an emergency vehicle is behind you with its lights on, you would pull over to the side of the road so it can pass. However, in a work zone, there is often no or very little shoulder to try to pull over to. 

When driving through a work zone, continue to drive the work zone speed limit and move over to the right lane as soon as you can. If the work zone is only one lane, stay in the lane until you exit the work zone. Do not pull into an emergency pull-off area, and do not pull over into the work area.

"When they realized they hit my sign they finally hit their brakes and stopped approximately 75 feet past me into the work area. The motorist backed up a short distance, looked down at the destroyed paddle on the road, looked back up at me and drove away. The vehicle sustained right front end damage, including a missing headlight."​

​You may have noticed a lot of roadwork happens at night. For every construction project, engineers determine when the work can be done. Nighttime work is common on busy freeways to limit the impact during higher-traffic times like morning and evening rush hours. However, working at night can be more dangerous for both workers and drivers. This is why it's critical to always stay alert and follow the work zone speed limit to keep everyone safe!​

Bruce has been a girls' softball coach for Oley High School for more than 25 years, and looks forward to continuing to do so do.

On at least three occasions in the last two years, the crash trucks utilized for the work have been struck by motorists. No PennDOT workers were injured in these incidents, but if it wasn't for the crash trucks creating a buffer for PennDOT employees, things could have been much worse.

In his previous position, John notes that he was actually hit by a vehicle in the late '90s. The incident occurred on an entrance ramp and was struck by an older, inattentive driver. He was struck by the vehicle's mirror and the tire ran over his foot. Luckil,y he experienced no serious injuries.

"Taking my responsibility as foreman seriously and wanting to protect my crew, I stepped out into the roadway waving my arms and yelling for the motorist to stop. The motorist proceeded toward, me stopping directly in front of me before accelerating and bumping my knees, causing me to fall onto his hood. He then continued to drive through the remainder of the work zone with me on his hood. It was not until my crew came to my assistance and used equipment to block the motorist from going any further that he stopped. I was lucky to walk away with only bumps and bruises."

Note: Local police were called to the scene to deal with the driver.

As he was working near the center of the road, raking the loose asphalt from the patch, the other side of the road was open to traffic allowing motorists to get by the operation. A flagger permitted a pickup truck hauling a horse trailer to drive through the work zone.

"I was close to the middle of the road when I heard one of my crew member's yell, 'You're going to get hit!' That's when it happened. I saw the pickup truck with wide mirrors and just missed it, but the trailer it was hauling was wider than the pick-up. The wheel of the trailer grabbed my knee and pulled it down. The next thing I knew there was a wheel track over my pant leg and knee. The driver kept going."

Lou's crew members yelled and the driver then stopped, looked back, called out that he had to deliver the horses, and drove on. He returned about 15 to 20 minutes later, after delivering the horses.

Lou stood up and tried to regain his composure, but collapsed to the ground. When the driver with the horse trailer returned to the scene and asked Lou if he was OK, Lou made sure that he communicated to the fellow that he was not.

The driver said, "I knew I was too wide to get through." Lou asked, "So why did you." The driver was silent.

Lou was taken to the hospital emergency room. He had a partial tear in his medial collateral ligament (MCL) and a depressed fibula. Fortunately, the tear healed over time. However, additional damage to his knee that didn't clear up required surgery months later, at the end and physical therapy.

"I've been working on the road for 30 years," Lou says. "It's horrible out there. People's behavior is getting worse and worse. We need to stop this. Just recently, for example, in dealing with flooding, we placed barricades to close the road and protect drivers from driving into running water, but some motorists ignored them and just drive around the barricades."

Lou reflects on the incident and the safety of his crew. "I wasn't complacent before. I'm very safety oriented," explains Lou. "I shelter my guys and make sure they're safe. I'm glad it was me who was hurt last summer. I would have felt really, really bad if it had happened to one of my guys. Nowadays, I'm super, super cautious."

"Our flagger started screaming and called out a warning on his radio to the crew about the approaching vehicle into the work zone," Mike explained, and one of our equipment operators pulled out his dump truck across the road to block the car, forcing the driver to stop. When we approached the driver, we could smell alcohol on his breath." The crew called the State Police, and a trooper was there within 15 minutes. The subsequent search revealed alcohol and drug paraphernalia.

"Our guys all stepped up and handled the situation very well, and helped prevent what could have been a tragedy. The driver could have hit any one of our crew; he could have hit our equipment, or hurt himself. We're all very fortunate."

"It is important for all motorists to obey the work zone signs," Jamison said. "No matter what kind of vehicle you have, from a bicycle to a truck, when our flagger tells you to stop, please stop. Your life could depend on it."

"The last thing I want to do as a supervisor is to call the family of one of my crew to tell them their loved one has been injured or will not be coming home. Personally, I want to go home each night to my wife and two young children.

"A work zone is set up to keep the employees safe as well as the motoring traffic. The flaggers control the work zone, allowing the crews to focus on the task. We rely on the motorists to focus on their job of driving safely through the work zone.

"Two things I see in work zones are speeding and distracted driving — especially making phone calls and texting. Drivers need to slow down to a safe speed and pay attention. If they are focused on their phone, they are not focused on the work zone and keeping away from the workers so that there is no chance of an accident. We are focused on our job, and the motorists need to focus on their job of driving safely and not on making phone calls or texting. If drivers are focused on their phones, they are not focusing on our employees and their safety."

"The most memorable experience was [one time] when the crew was performing shoulder-cutting activities when a large box truck ran the stop/slow paddle held by [a flagger], and an unmarked Pennsylvania State Police car was directly behind the individual that ran the paddle. The state trooper instantly cited the individual for the violation," Phillips said. "The most frequent time I experience near misses is when motorists don't obey the stop and slow paddle."

Because of his experiences, Sheldon takes work zone safety very seriously. He carries a hand-held radio with him at all times to effectively communicate with his crew, and regularly reminds them to be on the lookout for motorists who aren't paying attention.

When Phillips isn't working as a foreman he loves riding his motorcycle and has had it since 2008.

As the driver passed the flagger, he steered his truck straight at Greg and a fellow worker. Running away from the truck, he threw his shovel up in the air, the two men jumped out of the path of the truck and up onto the wall of the bridge. The driver then continued over the bridge and out of the work zone.

The Pennsylvania State Police were contacted and the driver was pulled over 3 miles down the road from the work site. The driver was arrested and charged. The shovel that Greg had thrown in the air as he ran to escape was lying on the trailer.

Upon inspection by state police, several chains holding down the load on the truck had been snapped by the momentum of the truck veering back and forth as the driver steered toward the workers.

When the trucker appeared before then local magisterial district judge, he pleaded guilty and admitted that he had steered his truck toward the workers on purpose. He apologized, and said that he had just had a bad day. It could have been a very bad day for everyone.

When Greg was asked what contributes to drivers not paying attention when approaching work zones, he said two things: drivers distracted by cellphone use and too many work signs being used improperly at gas well sites. He continues to be amazed at the number of drivers who appear to be texting when approaching a work zone causing them to suddenly apply their brakes in order to stop. He feels drivers in his area are desensitized to work zone advance warning signs due to the misuse of these signs at entrances to gas well sites.

Greg lives in Greene County, enjoys hunting, landscaping, and spending time with his two children.