Cromartie Law Your Local Rome Attorneys. Serious Personal Injury? We Can Help. Free Consultation.

How common are work zone fatalities in Georgia?

On Behalf of | Oct 2, 2015 | Wrongful Death

Most of our Georgia readers have probably spent quite a bit of their daily commute stuck in traffic near a construction work zone at one point or another. Infrastructure work throughout the country seems to be a never-ending and thankless task as most commuters simply want to get where they are going as soon as possible without construction delays. But, what many people may not realize is that the construction workers in those work zones may be putting their life on the line.

According to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), a total of 57 GDOT employees have died in work zones over the last 40 years. While that may seem like a small number for Georgia statewide, consider the national figures: the Federal Highway Administration states that 105 workers died in work zones throughout the country in 2013 alone.

And, the workers in these work zones are not the only ones in danger. GDOT reports that last year there were 20 work zone fatalities involving non-GDOT employees in Georgia. Nationwide, the year before, 2013, there were an estimated 29,000 injuries in work zones.

Fatal accidents occur frequently in America, and there are usually any number of reasons for these car wrecks, from distracted driving to drunk driving to speeding. When these potentially deadly factors are combined with restricted traffic in a construction work zone, the danger is exacerbated, leaving injured victims or the surviving family members of those who are killed in a position where a personal injury lawsuit becomes a necessity.

Source: DOT.GA.gov, “Work Zone Safety Fact Sheet,” accessed on Sept. 26, 2015

How Can We Help?