Highway work zones create an inevitable disruption in regular traffic flows that result in traffic safety problems, and work zone safety remains unsatisfactory nationwide. In 2004, 1,068 people were killed in work zones, adding about 49,620 more work zone related injuries (FHWA 2006). The direct cost of highway work zone crashes, estimated based on the crash data from 1995 to 1997, was as high as $6.2 billion per year: an average cost of $3,687 per crash (Mohan and Gautam 2002). Understanding the characteristics and major causes of highway work zone crashes is a critical step towards developing effective safety countermeasures in highway work zones.

In 2004, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) initiated a project (K-TRAN Project No.KU-05-01) to study the fatal crashes in Kansas highway work zones between 1992 and 2004. The study results including crash characteristics and major crash contributing factors were published in Bai and Li (2006). Built on the previous success, KDOT sponsored this research project (K-TRAN Project No. KU-06-01) to further study the injury crashes during the same period in Kansas highway work zones.  The significant insights from this study are valuable for the design of safer highway work zones and for the development of safety countermeasures that have potential not only in reducing the number of crashes but also in mitigating the crash severity.

According to the literature, the importance of having safe work zones for both construction workers and highway users has been widely recognized. Despite the effort devoted in this subject, there is little indication that work zone crashes are on the decline nationwide. An important reason behind this might be that current countermeasures are not working effectively enough in the work zones.

The effectiveness of work zone traffic controls is directly related to work zone safety. In the data analysis of this study, crash frequencies were also categorized under different traffic control devices. It was found that 72% of the crashes occurred on the pavements marked with center/edge lines. Other traffic control devices present in crash work zones included: traffic signal (15%), no passing zone (14%), and stop sign/signal (7%). 11% of the crashes occurred in work zones with no or inoperative traffic control and 15% occurred with presence of other traffic control devices.

Driver errors were the most common causal factor for work zone injury crashes. Data analysis results did not support that factors such as inclement weather conditions and unfavorable pavement conditions had significant contributions to injury crashes. Complex geometric alignment features such as grades and curves had some impact on the occurrences of the injury crashes: 34% of the crashes occurred on complicated alignments and 46% of the single-vehicle crashes occurred on complex alignments. The fact that 24% of the total crashes or 33% of the multi-vehicle crashes occurred in intersections or intersection-related areas indicates that the presence of an intersection in highway work zones was a contributing factor to injury crashes. In our opinion, this would point to the use of Longitudinal Channelizing Devices to clearly delineate the traveled way in complex geometric alignments, as a great improvement in more than 1/4 of all work zone accidents.

Improvement of traffic control is the most direct method to reduce highway work zone crashes. More effective and sufficient work zone traffic controls should be installed. In particular, based on the characteristics of highway work zone crashes, the following traffic control improvements are recommended.

• More effective speed control strategies. The high composition of crashes in high-speed zones and the dominance of rear-end collisions in injury crashes indicate a strong association between high speeds and work zone injury and fatal crashes. Therefore, controlling speeds is a key step towards improving work zone safety.

• Effective headway control strategies. The study found that the most common type for injury crashes was rear-end collisions. In addition, in many work zones, the remaining travel lanes are usually separated from construction areas by chanalization devices and it is often impossible to escape from a following high-speed vehicle in the travel lane. Therefore, it would be effective to utilize a gating chanalization device such as a Longitudinal Channelizing Device (LCD) to allow vehicles to exit the traveled lane in an emergency situation.

• More effective warning devices. The fact that inattentive driving contributed most of the fatal and injury crashes in work zones suggests an immediate need for effective approaches to warn the inattentive drivers of the upcoming work zone conditions. When construction workers and/or other personnel are present in traffic lanes, such devices that can effectively alert inattentive drivers become extremely important. The researchers hence recommend the use of more effective warning devices such as temporary rumble strips or other raised pavement markings in highway work zones.

• Other traffic control improvements. The study of both injury and fatal work zone crashes also suggested needs for other traffic control improvements. For instance, the high percent of nighttime fatal crashes might be reduced by installing illumination or highly retroreflective devices in the work zones at nighttime. Installation of median separators, such as plastic water filled barriers, LCD’s, and concrete barrier should be considered in some work zones to eliminate head-on crashes, one of the major collision types for fatal crashes.

In addition to the improvements on work zone traffic controls, education will be a promising supplement for maximized safety improvement in highway work zones. The crash investigation showed that male drivers caused most of both fatal and injury crashes in Kansas highway work zones. Drivers younger than 25 years of age, especially males in the teenage driver population, were responsible for a large proportion of the injury crashes. Drivers aged 35 to 44 and older than 64 were the groups with the highest fatal crash rate in Kansas work zones. Truck drivers also create safety problems in work zones especially by contributing to a large percent of work zone fatal crashes. The researchers suggest launching a risk-driver-oriented education program in order to raise awareness of highway work zone hazards. The fact that a major cause of most crashes was human errors also indicates the urgency for developing effective education programs for the traveling public.

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 Features Include: Integrated screw-in light and flag holes, easy to store with stacking protrusions, molded-in handle, USA made, 100% frangible, AR reflective sheeting ready, and 100% FOD free system. This barricade meets FAA AC 150 5370 2 E.  Check out our website for more info.

Useful life usually refers to the duration for which the item will be useful (to the business), and not how long the property will actually last. Many factors affect a property’s useful life, including the frequency of use, the age when acquired and the repair policy and environmental conditions of the business.

All of OTW Safety’s products are built to last. 

RMB 48×40
The picture above was just taken in Phoenix, AZ in March 2013. This barricade was manufactured in 2006, that is 7 years of usefulness!

RAR 10×96
Although we have a new blow molded version of this barricade, many customers prefer the heavier weight and thicker wall of the RAR 10×96. This product is FAA approved and eligible for AIP funding. Even if you purchased this 10 years ago, you could still be using it and we still make it, so you can add to your stock with a compatible barricade!

RAR 24×96
This picture was taken at the Salt Lake City International Airport in February 2013. The Airport purchased our RAR 24×96 in 2000 and have been using them for 13 years!

You can trust OTW Safety’s high quality products to be built tough and to last a very long time.

The current mindset of the safety community is geared toward using “positive protection” to protect maintenance workers in roadway work zones.  As a result, concrete barrier has become the temporary traffic control device most commonly used in highway work zones.  According to Roadside Design Guide, published by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), “…a barrier should be installed only if it is clear that the result of a vehicle striking the barrier will be less severe than the crash resulting from hitting the unshielded object itself.”  When deciding on the correct and safe choice for temporary traffic control in a work zone, an evaluation of devices should place a particular emphasis on balancing the protection of maintenance workers with the safety of road users traveling through work zones.

In contrast to traditional channelizing devices (e.g., cones, drum, etc.) that have some open space between devices, LCD’s can be connected together to form a solid line.  Thus LCDs can prevent drivers and pedestrians from going between devices and entering the work area (whether inadvertent or deliberate).  A solid line of LCDs provides continuous delineation of the travel path, which may be beneficial in work zones.

In the United States an average of approximately 1,100 people die and 40, 000 people are injured annually as a result of motor vehicle crashes in work zones. The last day on which there were no fatalities on the roads in Texas was November 7, 2000.  Unbelievable! That means that in those 12 years, if only one person died each day, that would be 4,380 deaths across the state.  Unfortunately, it’s been nearly 10 times that number, which means that in a similar time frame, people have died on Texas roadways at roughly the same rate as our troops during the Vietnam War.

The 2013 National Work Zone Awareness Week is nearly upon us. The week of April 15-19 is dedicated to the cause and the theme for this year is “Work Zone Safety: We’re All In This Together”

PSA in a workzone.

The 2013 theme highlights the complexities of work zones, especially in urban areas, and the need for awareness and planning on the part of everyone affected by work zones – DOTs, road workers, drivers, bicyclists, motorcycles, pedestrians, emergency response, law enforcement, utility workers.

In 2010, work zone crashes killed 576 people and injured an estimated 37,000.  As you can imagine, road work is a dangerous occupation; in fact, 10 to 15 percent of work zone fatalities are workers. But, surprisingly, that also means that 85 to 90 percent of those killed in work zone crashes are drivers and their passengers.

Thankfully, work zone crashes are preventable.

One way OTW Safety has worked to reduce work zone crash fatalities is through the development of Longitudinal Channelizing Devices, or LCD’s. Longitudinal channelizing devices (LCDs), previously referred to as longitudinal channelizing barricades (LCBs), were first introduced in the 2003 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).

Per the current version of the MUTCD, LCDs are described as lightweight, deformable devices that can be connected together to delineate or channelize vehicles or pedestrians.

LCD in use, Parley’s Canyon, Utah.

LCD’s are much safer in use than temporary concrete barrier, which, when impacted by a wayward motorists, create high G forces that can cause serious injury and death to the driver and occupants of the vehicle.

Unfortunately, LCDs have only been used to delineate pedestrian travel paths in work zones. As such, LCDs have ensured that the temporary pedestrian travel path meets the MUTCD accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities.

Although LCD’s are exceptional at meeting this requirement, there are other uses where LCD’s are accepted by the FHWA, but are rarely considered. For instance, LCD’s can be used in place of concrete barriers to close roadways to vehicular traffic. Closing roads using concrete barrier exposes motorists to extremely hazardous high angle impacts. Using LCD’s to close roadways instead of concrete barrier mitigates this hazard.

Road Closure with Concrete Barrier I-15 Salt Lake City

LCDs can be used to denote the edge of the pavement or separate the active travel lanes from the work area, where positive protection is not required. Again, using LCD’s in this manner greatly reduces the risk to motorists and their passengers of an impact with concrete barrier.

In contrast to traditional channelizing devices(e.g., cones, drums, etc.) that have some open space between devices, LCDs can be connected together to form a solid line. Thus LCDs can prevent drivers and pedestrians from going between devices and entering the work area (whether inadvertent or deliberate).

A solid line of LCDs also provides continuous delineation of the travel path, which may be beneficial at major decision points in work zones, such as lane closures, exit ramps, business access points (i.e., driveways) and temporary diversions (i.e., crossovers).

This vehicle is pulling into the wprk zone from a side alley and is headed into oncoming traffic.

LCDs also are considered to be highly visible and have good target value, thus LCDs might increase the sight distance to the lane closure. In addition, the larger size of the LCDs may allow for increased spacing of the devices (i.e., more than one times the speed limit in mph); thus fewer devices would be needed.

LCDs connected together reduce the potential for missing devices. In addition, ballasted LCDs are more resistant to becoming misaligned by passing vehicles and / or weather.

The current mindset set of the safety community is geared toward using “positive protection” to protect maintenance workers in roadway work zones. As a result, concrete barrier has become the temporary traffic control device most commonly used in roadway work zones, even when the data from work zone accident fatalities overwhelmingly indicate that maintenance workers are in the minority of those killed in work zone. In fact, a recent ATSSA sponsored survey of practices confirmed that temporary concrete barrier is the option most frequently used by state transportation agencies. This has occurred even though the data from work zone accident fatalities overwhelmingly indicate that maintenance workers are in the minority of those killed in work zone.

Traffic engineers expect concrete barrier to improve safety for the motorists and reasonably protect workers, but motorists can be subject to average forces of 9.55 G’s and as high as 23.5 G’s when impacting at 25 degree angles when traveling in standard size pickups. The same vehicle when impacting water-filled LCD’s at 25 degrees measured average ride-down accelerations of 5.05 G’s with the highest measurement at 7.4 G’s. Keep in mind these angles are low and motorists can expect much higher forces when striking barriers that have been located perpendicular to traffic flow to close lanes.

Results of 25 Degree Impact at 100 KPH

It is clear, when the crash test data is reviewed, that plastic water-filled longitudinal channelizing devices create more positive outcomes in the event of an accident than the use of traditional concrete barrier due to the high G’s that motorists are subjected to when impacting concrete barrier.

If 85% of work zone accidents fatalities are drivers and their passengers, and water-filled longitudinal channelizing devices provide a higher degree of safety for the motorists passing through work zones, it would seem logical that water-filled longitudinal channelizing devices would be the traffic control device of
choice. But these devices are rarely if ever used. In road construction work zones, resistance to change to use of water-filled longitudinal channelizing devices (as with many devices new to the transportation infrastructure environment) slows industry-wide adoption of water ballast devices.

There is an enduring familiarity with concrete and a tendency to rely on concrete barrier for every use, even when it is not the safest or most appropriate device for the job. Because there is no requirement or incentive for change, engineers simply continue to specify temporary concrete barrier for all traffic control jobs, in spite of the innovation of safer and more effective mechanisms.

Temporary concrete barriers are appropriate in work zones when needed for positive protection, but can create hazards in themselves if used simply for channelization.

For decades, road transportation departments, consulting engineers, and others who specify safety equipment in roadway construction projects have had few choices in traffic control devices. Historically, engineers have specified temporary concrete barriers as a “one solution fits all” solution, and a culture has developed leaving temporary concrete barrier as the default option for channelizing delineation. In order to reduce the number of work zone fatalities, these transportation professionals are urged to examine and consider new products offering vehicle occupants a safer environment. When practitioners begin to look beyond familiar traffic control products, work zone safety will be improved. The occupants of vehicles traveling through work zones are frequently exposed to temporary concrete barrier being utilized as a delineator or to close a road, elevating exposure to high angle impacts. Or, alternatively, they are required to drive through a confusing array of delineators, risking head-on collision.

Those vehicle drivers and occupants could be your family or mine, so we must ask ourselves if we are really considering all of the available traffic control devices and how the proper deployment of these devices can create safe work zones, preventing injuries and perhaps saving lives. Surely, it is worth consideration in this week of workzone safety.

What are the costs of a safe construction zone? In the picture below, the contractor has chosen to use drums. If there are 30 drums in a 100 ft. construction zone the average cost for 30 drums of the tire collar type is approximately $75 each. A total of $2250 for 100 ft. We can provide this contractor the same length of our MB42x72 JSS LCD for approximately $2800. Which product would protect workers and pedestrians better? By interlocking our barricade you give motorists a clear line of direction, plus you keep workers in and pedestrians out!

For $5.50 more a ft. you can have a secure and safe workzone.

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How do you, as a driver, feel about traffic barriers? Yes, those cumbersome, fluorescent plastic hurdles that have seemingly been placed around roadways to hinder your daily commute. In reality, these traffic barriers are actually placed to enhance and protect your driving experience, as well as reduce potential collisions. Traffic barriers (sometimes referred to as crash barriers), also come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each used to occupy various traffic zones, depending on the circumstance and location. Essentially, they can be categorized in two ways: by the function they serve, and by how much they deflect when a vehicle crashes into them. These traffic barriers can be broken down into four groups, each equipped with their own individual performance. They are determined as follows:

Image Credits safety.fhwa.dot.gov

Roadside barrier: used to protect traffic from roadside obstacles or hazards, such as slopes steep enough to cause rollover crashes, fixed objects like bridge piers, and bodies of water. Roadside barriers can also be used in wide medians to prevent vehicles from colliding with hazards within the median. It acts as an additional perimeter, as seen in the picture below:

Image Credit environment.fhwa.dot.gov

Median barrier: used to prevent vehicles from crossing over a median and striking an oncoming vehicle in a head-on crash. Unlike roadside barriers, they must be designed to be struck from either side. These barriers are normally constructed from reinforced concrete. While they will only deflect a minor amount of damage from a vehicular collision, the shape of the concrete is designed to redirect a vehicle into a path parallel to the barrier.

Bridge barrier: designed to restrain vehicles from crashing off the side of a bridge and falling onto the roadway, river or railroad below. It is usually higher than roadside barrier, to prevent trucks, buses, pedestrians and cyclists from vaulting or rolling over the barrier and falling over the side of the structure. Bridge rails are usually multi-rail tubular steel barriers or reinforced concrete parapets and barriers.

Image Credit www.a1highways.com.au

Work zone barrier: used to protect traffic from hazards in work zones. Their distinguishing feature is they can be relocated as conditions change in the road works. Two common types are used: temporary concrete barrier and water-filled barrier. The latter is composed of steel-reinforced plastic boxes that are put in place where needed, linked together to form a longitudinal barrier, then filled with water. These have an advantage in that they can be assembled without heavy lifting equipment, and can be shipped to the location of the work zone much more economically than temporary concrete barriers.

Image Credit www.plasticsafety.com/

Work zone barriers are primarily the most recognized, but as covered above, traffic barriers can range from providing positive protection to workers in a small construction site to regulating the efficiency of highway traffic.   Their main objective is to prevent possible fatalities or car related injuries, as well as preserve the safety of those working to improve our streets and highways. So next time you’re driving past one of those fluorescent pieces of plastic, regard them as a convenience, not a nuisance!

Stay tuned for the announcement of a new innovative product for your friends at OTW Safety. Here at OTW Safety we continue to be innovators blazing the path in the barricade world. Be sure to follow our Twitter and Facebook accounts for the most up to date news!