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II-1 SECTION II Introduction Given the emphasis on maintaining and reconstructing existing infrastructure, the issue of work zone safety has become more prominent in recent years. Maintaining efficient and safe movement of traffic through work zones is a major challenge. Work zones, by their nature, require more attention than normal driving conditions because motorists are placed in special situations not encountered elsewhere on the roadway system. Work zone safety is an issue impacting motorists, other roadway users, and workers equally across all roadway types, regardless of the time of year, day of week, or time of day. In 2003, 1,028 people lost their lives in work zones on Americaâs highways, and more than 40,000 others were injured. The strategies discussed in this guide focus on reducing fatalities in work zones, but their implementation will undoubtedly result in an overall reduction in work zone crashes. One of the hallmarks of the AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan (SHSP) is to approach safety problems in a comprehensive manner. The range of strategies available in the guides will ultimately cover various aspects of the road user, the highway, the vehicle, the environment, and the management system. The guides strongly encourage the reader to develop a program to deal with a particular emphasis area from each of these perspectives in a coordinated manner. To facilitate this coordination, the electronic form of the material uses hypertext linkages to allow seamless integration of various approaches to a given problem. The goal is to move away from independent activities of engineers, law enforcement, educators, judges, and other highway-safety specialists and toward a coordinated effort. The implementation process outlined in the guides (Section VI) promotes the formation of working groups and alliances that represent all of the elements of the safety system. The groups can draw upon their combined expertise to reach the bottom-line goal of targeted reduction of crashes and fatalities associated with a particular emphasis area. Many of the strategies discussed in this guide relate primarily to engineering. However, it is important to consider the need to involve stakeholders and other safety professionals who either will be directly involved or can provide additional perspectives and expertise for implementing planned strategies. In some cases, implementing the strategy will directly impact operations on the highway. In such cases, many elements of the roadway community and the safety community as a whole (e.g., law enforcement, emergency medical services [EMS], fire departments, utility companies, contractors, media, and adjacent land users and owners) are best involved at the earliest project planning stages. The six major areas of the AASHTO SHSP (Drivers, Vehicles, Special Users, Highways, Emergency Medical Services, and Management) are subdivided into 22 goals that impact highway safety. Goal 19 addresses work zone safety issues. This guide provides direction to highway agencies to assist them in implementing safety improvements in highway work zones. Strategies discussed are intended to apply to a full range of highway functional classifications and work zone traffic control methods.
