Drivers Urged To Watch Out For Road Workers And Law Enforcement

Police in the Cleveland suburb of Westlake say they have located the SUV involved in a road construction zone accident on I-90 that seriously injured an ODOT worker.

Unfortunately, it’s a scenario that often happens this time of year.

The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Matt Bruning says drivers have already hit ODOT workers or equipment 35 times this year.

“That is 35 times too many. There is no reason for those kinds of crashes to occur.”

And it’s not just road crews getting hurt.

According to ODOT, there were more than 5,200 move-over crashes between 2015 and 2020.

40 percent involved highways workers and 42 percent involved law enforcement officers.

Ohio’s Move Over Law requires drivers to move over, or slow down if changing lanes isn’t possible, when passing vehicles with flashing lights on the side of the road.

(the picture below is from a previous crash when an ODOT crew in Putnam County was struck)