Work Zone Awareness Week Highlights Safety Tips To Drivers, Workers Safe

CHICAGO (CBS) -- With winter behind us, you'll soon see more orange barrels on the road.

And that has construction crews reminding you to slow down in work zones to keep everyone safe.

The theme of National Work Zone Awareness Week is "drive safe. work safe. save lives." Two hundred cones were set up to show the 200 lives lost across the country last year in work zone accidents.

And with Illinois scheduled to have even more projects this summer, several groups including IDOT, Illinois State Police, the Illinois Tollway and construction workers joined together to remind drivers to stay focused and slow down while in a construction zone.

"Of the 37 deaths in Illinois last year, 29 were people in vehicles. They were not construction workers. It's not just our lives in jeopardy driving through work zones. It's yours too," said Paul Wojcieszak of Sheffield Safety & Loss Control

The groups said distracted driving is a problem, so people need to put down the phone and pay attention to the road.

Illinois State Police plan to add more cameras to work zones to catch drivers breaking the rules. If caught speeding in a construction zone, the minimum fine is $250.

In:
• Illinois State Police