April 19, 2021
The name David Rush is well known in the traffic safety industry. He is often thought of as the mastermind behind “National Work Zone Awareness Week”, now celebrated annually across the country. But how did this annual recognition come to be? We sat down with David to find out. What sparked the need for a work zone awareness week? Back in the late nineties, we would go around the state of Virginia and do work zone safety training with VDOT employees and contractors. And in doing that, one of the participants came up and said “You know, I appreciate you coming out and doing work zone training, but who is training the public? Who is raising the awareness of how dangerous it is out here and how they need to slow down?” And that really stuck with me. Then in 1997, the Bristol district came up with the idea of a week at the beginning of construction season to just concentrate on work zone safety both internally and then share the message externally. Once the idea for an awareness week was proposed, how did you help grow this to be an event that is nationally recognized every year? I got an invitation to go up to Washington, DC where ATSSA was meeting with AASHTO and FHWA and I gave my presentation. I said it’s just one state [Virginia] doing this, just think once all the states get together with the same message at the same time how much bigger of an impact that could be. And they came to an agreement to take a week in April and call it National Work Zone Awareness Week. What changes did you hope to implement with this event? A reduction in crashes, speeding crashes, and lately it’s been distracted driving crashes that we’ve been really putting the focus on. Put your cell phone down, your hamburger down, your drink down. Pay attention to the road when you are driving through a work zone. Just trying to drive down the number of crashes. Earlier when this was going on we had a lot more crashes than we do now. So I think the word is finally getting out. Since the beginning of National Work Zone Awareness Week, the event has been held in several different locations. Which event or city was your favorite? I really enjoyed the Washington DC event, one of the first ones we had. Of course the cherry blossoms were in bloom and just being out on the mall. We had a big tent and tables for displays and we had over 1000 traffic cones set up that acted as a memorial. Each one of those cones represented a person who had died in a work zone crash. If you look at it that way, it really expands your vision on the problem. How has the event evolved over the years? Over the years we have added to the week. We have a VDOT Workers Memorial, a monument we built on I-64 near Afton Mountain, and every year we have a vigil with 130+ names of VDOT employees who lost their lives on the roadways and stress the need for motorists to slow down. We also came up with the idea that Wednesday of that week to “Go Orange” where we encourage employees to wear orange and share the message- Pay attention, slow down, and don't drive distracted. How do you plan to be involved with National Work Zone Awareness Week in the future? I will be heavily involved again next year, which will probably be my last year, because I plan on retiring. I want to get Virginia up and running with that event with the hope that next year we'll all be able to get back together again. If we can, then it's going to be a whole lot bigger than it has been over the last couple of years. So we're looking forward to that. We’ll possibly have a project in northern Virginia so we can get the DC reps to come down and participate with us. Another one that I really liked was we had FHWA Director Mary Peters participate in one that we had in Springfield and the focus that year was work zones are our office. So we had her sit in a desk off of I-95 in the Springfield Interchange where we had a big construction project going on. That was pretty unique. It's pretty neat seeing how this has expanded and it's a message we all need to take to heart. We've been working closely with PSS using their temporary portable rumble strips. We’re focused on trying to wake up distracted drivers. To me, portable rumble strips are the only device I have seen out there that physically made someone aware that something was in the roadway.... We've had some good success with those. What message do you hope comes from future National Work Zone Awareness events? That folks realize we really need them to pay extra attention and be more attentive. These are men and women out there, this is their livelihoods, they have families to go back to. They need to take it upon themselves to drive safer. But, also for our own workers. Instead of just filling potholes or removing snow during the winter, you are actually out there with motorists who may not be paying attention. It is extra critical to set up your work zones correctly, that you have the right devices out there, that you use the rumble strips. I can't emphasize it enough, people need to be aware and be alert. That's where we work, that's our office. Since the start of the pandemic, we have seen less miles travelled, but a surge in reckless driving on our nation’s roads. What are your thoughts on this? I get notified every time there is a crash in a work zone. I really don't see that big of a reduction in crashes. Even though the traffic volumes are less and the miles travelled are less, the work zone crashes are less than 3% percent lower than the year before. We did have fewer fatalities last year, which is a good thing, but I am seeing an increase in speeding crashes. With fewer motorists on the roadway, the faster they can travel unfortunately. What are your thoughts on autonomous vehicles and smart work zones and how do you see them helping to make work zones safer? 90% of crashes are due to driver error. If you could take the driver out of the equation...you could save a lot more lives. Overall, I think it would make it [work zones] safer. There are challenges for the industry and challenges for us as designers of work zones, so it’s going to be a while before we get to that point. But it is interesting that ATSSA and other state DOTs are working with car manufacturers to make sure we are working together and not against each other.