Safety campaign to focus on work zones
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 4, 2001
Using the horse-racing industrys slogan of Go Baby Go as a basis, the state Transportation Cabinet is leading a new safety campaign with the slogan Whoa Baby Whoa … Leave Racin to Horses. The cabinet is hoping the new slogan will increase awareness of the importance of slowing down and taking extra precautions in work zones, especially during the upcoming construction season. Research shows that people start to ignore signage after seeing it for 30 days, so we wanted a new and fresh way to grab peoples attention, said Terry Giltner, the cabinets public affairs director and the brains behind the slogan. Its almost a tourism kind of message. The cabinet also hopes the slogan will get the attention of younger drivers, who have been shown to cause a disproportionate number of highway accidents. To give people a feel for a work zone, the cabinet set up a simulated construction site Tuesday in the parking lot of Raffertys restaurant on Scottsville Road. Its also implementing the Selective Highway Enforcement Program to deter speeding, especially in work zones. Besides using marked police cars, Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement officers also will use pick-up trucks and Ford Tauruses marked with the state seal to enforce speed limits on the states interstates and in high-crash areas. The pilot program started in March and will continue throughout the year. Construction is serious business and safety in the work zone is even more serious, cabinet Secretary James C Codell said. It usually starts in April and goes until November, but improvements in such things as materials have led it to be year-round work. We cant work safely if people dont drive safely. Each year, nearly 760 people die and 39,000 are injured in work-zone crashes nationwide. In 1999, nine people died in crashes in Kentucky, a number that decreased to seven in 2000 but remains too high, said Pat Melton, state director for driver safety. With the state expected to meet or exceed last years total of 710 projects valued at $736 million and more construction projects being completed at night, worker safety is the cabinets first priority, Codell said. To say that we take worker safety seriously is a gross understatement, Codell said.