When you’re a construction worker, danger comes with the job. There is always the danger of being crushed by a falling object or being injured when scaffolding collapses or heavy machinery malfunctions. Workers and their families recognize that being seriously injured or even killed on the job is a risk that construction workers take every day. For one Texas family, the risk became a reality when a highway construction worker was struck and killed by a passing vehicle last week.
On Wednesday morning, a 23-year-old highway construction worker was in a work zone on Highway 105 near Evadale when he was hit by a passing motorist. According to eyewitness reports, the construction worker had been holding a stop sign and was directing traffic through the construction zone area when an SUV came by and struck the worker, hitting him directly in the middle of the vehicle.
The impact of the collision with the SUV threw the man over 20 feet in the air. He landed on the shoulder of the road. Emergency personnel responded to the accident, but the worker died from his injuries on the scene of the fatal car accident.
The 23-year-old worker was employed by private subcontractor EaglePro. Eagle Pro, an engineering firm based in Beaumont, Texas, had been hired by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to make base repairs to the Jasper County highway.
A spokesman from the TxDOT noted that the department is constantly reminding drivers of the importance of being careful in a work zone, and to slow down immediately as you approach a construction zone as you never know where the workers may be located.
Last year there were over 15,000 work zone auto accidents, resulting in 108 deaths, reported one local news station.
Source: KFDM News.com, “Highway worker struck, killed on FM 105 south of Evadale,” 8/17/11.