Highway construction is deadly work. In 2021, fatal accidents in highway work zones increased 11% from the prior year, with deaths rising from 863 to 956, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).

Nobody knows that better than Dennis Demoss, project superintendent for Indiana-based paving company Rieth-Riley Construction. Demoss’ son, Coty, also an employee of Rieth-Riley, was killed working on the highway in 2014. Rieth-Riley, based in Goshen, had a contract to repair Interstate 69, working at night to get the job done faster. At about 5 a.m. Coty Demoss and co-worker Kenneth Duerson were removing cones to avoid impeding rush-hour traffic. A vehicle going more than 70 mph struck both workers, killing them instantly.

Since that day, Dennis Demoss has dedicated his life to making work zones safer. The effort included a road construction awareness program. He and supporters created fluorescent orange magnets for the back of construction vehicles that say, “Slow down, save a life. We’re all in this together.” They donated 20,000 of them to the Indiana Dept. of Transportation, which put them on all state vehicles.

The group also created 8-ft-by -16-ft panels with the same message and installed them on supporters’ trucks. People began to take notice. This year, Demoss had a small victory. The Indiana General Assembly passed a law permitting the use of speed cameras in work zones. State Rep. Jim Pressel, the sponsor of the plan, says it was his fourth year working to get a bill like this passed because voters don’t like speed cameras. But in the end, it was a law that needed to be passed.

Dennis Demoss, and his son, Coty Demoss, who was killed in a work zone accident.  
Photo courtesy of Dennis Demoss

“The number of injuries and crashes that occur in Indiana alone in those work zones just continues to grow and grow and grow. That motivated me to move this along to better protect not only those workers, but the motoring public, too,” Pressel says.

Workforce Speed Control Nationwide Problem

Indiana isn't the only state concerned with this. Other Midwestern states with workzone speed cameras include Illinois and Michigan. 

Bradley Sant, senior vice president for Safety and Education for the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, says interest in speed cameras has increased since passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act which includes funding for the cameras. 

"That started a snowball [of interest]," he says. 

In addition to speed cameras, he says his association is interested in other methods to protect workers such as moveable barriers. 

"There is a lot we want to see greater use of," he says. "We can't control motorists' behavior, but we can control how we protect workers." 

States are looking at implementing other protective measures. Ohio is experimenting with aerial speed measurement and expects to deploy it statewide by the end of the year, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The system operates on roads with quarter-mile markings. Small planes fly about 2,000 feet above the road. From that height the two troopers aboard can identify speeders and radio to police in vehicles on the ground outside of the speed zones. Recently, 90 motorists were cited for speeding in a construction zone on Interstate 77 during a 10-hour surveillance period.