National Work Zone Awareness Week: What drivers need to know
(CBS DETROIT) - It's National Work Zone Awareness Week and the Michigan Department of Transportation is sending an alert for drivers to take in slow where workers are present.
Andrew Budai is a senior inspector for Tyme Engineering, a contractor hired to rehab Interstate 275.
He says his team is often at risk of getting hurt by reckless drivers.
"I kind of relate it to if anyone's had the misfortune of changing their tire on the side of the freeway where you're terrified," Budai said.
"You know you got to be by there but its very short moment. Try doing that day in and day out. You know we post speed limits at 60 but they're doing 80 or 90 and depending on where we're working, it can literally be feet away from us and we gotta work in that all day long so, it's quite terrifying."
Budai says crews are working to serve drivers to make the roads better for use, but they're sending an alert, calling on drivers to slow down and pay attention to signs in work zones.
"All these guys out here, we probably have any given week potentially over 100 people working out here," Budai said.
"We all have families, wives, kids. We're sons, daughters, fathers, mothers; everyone wants to go home safe."
MDOT is calling on supporters to wear orange Wednesday to stand in solidarity with construction crews.
According to MDOT, there were more than 700 crashes reported on the Rehab 275 project in the last two years.
Back in 2001, Andy's Law took effect, in which drivers can face one year in prison for injuring a construction worker and up to 15 years for killing a worker on the job.
It's named after Andy Lefko, who was paralyzed by a driver while working on I-275.
"We watch distracted driving, its only two lanes, you can't see," Budai said.
"Your peripherals are taken. People are on their phones, they're driving 20 miles per hour over the speed limit. They're changing lanes unnecessarily. Be respectful in someone else's house. Do the speed limit. Obey the law. It only takes one second, you can change the trajectory of your life and someone else's if you're not paying attention."
