Breaking News for Culpeper and Warrenton Accident Victims

VDOT wants Virginia drivers to make work zones NO PHONE ZONES

Posted on Apr 27, 2010

Work zones are all around us here in the Culpeper and Warrenton area, especially now that the weather is warming up and stimulus money is keeping Virginia road construction crews busy. Last week was National Work Zone Awareness week, and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) wants motorists to treat work zones as “no phone zones” ALL the time.

This means no phone use at all, and that includes any phone-like devices that distract drivers from the road. To be safe, drivers should not dial phone numbers, talk on the phone, send or read text messages, or check their email while driving. Drivers should never do these activities while behind the wheel, but it is especially important that they avoid them when in a work zone.

There are over 40,000 wrecks every year in the U.S., leading to over 700 deaths. In Virginia alone, work zone collisions result in about 2,000 accidents and over a thousand injuries a year. Many of these crashes are caused by drivers who are not paying attention to the road.

Distracted driving is a serious issue, and VDOT and other state and federal agencies are trying to educate drivers about the dangers posed by distractions like cell phones. To underscore their point, VDOT has set up a monument to Virginia highway transportation safety workers killed on the job. It is the VDOT Workers’ Memorial and is located at mile marker 102 on I-64 East near Afton Mountain.