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GIVE ‘EM A BRAKE: MOTORISTS REMINDED ROAD CREWS ARE BACK AT WORK

COUNTY ASKS MOTORISTS TO REMAIN ALERT FOR WORKERS ON HIGHWAYS

LOCKPORT—Niagara County Public Works officials are asking motorists to be extra-vigilant as county, state, and municipal road crews get to work repairing local highways and roads following a blistering winter.

Issuing a Federal Highway Administration poster that reinforces the need for public buy-in on road crew safety during what has been designated “National Work Zone Awareness Week,” Commissioner of Public Works Garret A. Meal warned that highway workers were particularly vulnerable to freak traffic accidents.

“In 2016, nationwide, there were 765 fatalities in work zones, and that constitutes a 7 percent increase over the previous year,” Meal said this morning. “That’s not just road crews—that’s drivers and passengers and pedestrians and bicyclists. We want folks to be careful for their own sake, and for ours.”

Meal noted that 143 workers had died at road construction sites in 2016.

“Our Public Works team is out there working to get our roads back in good order, from patching potholes to beginning our long-term road construction plans for the year,” Meal said. “When motorists come up on them going too fast, or are distracted, that’s a real danger.”

The chairman of the Niagara County Legislature’s Infrastructure and Facilities Committee, Legislator John Syracuse, R-Newfane, concurred.

“Our county government has emphasized our employees’ safety, ensuring they have the right equipment—road vest, hard hats, protective gear—but we are asking the public to partner with us here,” Syracuse said. “When you come up on a work zone, watch for the flaggers and follow their instructions, and drive at a reasonable speed. Our workers just want to go home to their families at the end of their day.”