Virginia Transportation Department holds vigil for fallen workers

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles is joining a national effort to bring attention to work zone safety.

Dozens gathered at the VDOT Workers’ Memorial for an annual vigil honoring workers killed on the job.

“It just really needs to stop and it’s within our control and we just have to do a better job,” said Virginia Secretary of Transportation Shep Miller.

Miller says being one of the speakers at the vigil is bittersweet.

“I get to be part of honoring some people that really need to be honored and remembered,” Miller said. “But at the same time, it’s probably one of the worst things, the least favorite things I do for exactly that reason. It’s because those workers who lost their lives here through no fault of their own.”

Kristin Pettway with Drive Smart VA agrees that something needs to be done to stop highway workers from losing their lives.

“We do not call crashes accidents, because as the Secretary said, these are decisions that people make, bad decisions that people make, and that’s no accident,” Pettway said.

Drive Smart VA works to address changing driver behavior, that will hopefully lead to less distracted driving and fewer crashes because of it.

Pettway says there were only five active speed cameras in work zones in Virginia last year, and it was shocking to see how many people were at fault.

“There were over 122,000 violations in those five work zones. And that means people had to have been speeding more than 11 miles per hour over the limit,” Pettway said.

Miller added that in the last year there have been more than 3,000 work zone crashes and that it will continue to happen unless drivers decide to make a change.

The VDOT Workers’ Memorial sits on a scenic overlook on I-64 just between mile marker 103 and 104.

Do you have a story idea? Send us your news tip here.