I don't know the woman personally, but I know several people who have been severly injured by the motoring public while trying to do their jobs. I myself have almost been run down 3 times, each time saved only by an attentive co-worker.Highway flagger killed by car
New laws aren't curbing fatal crashes
By Colleen Mastony, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Michael Higgins and freelance reporter Mitch Martin contributed
Published July 30, 2003
A mother of four working the midnight shift as a highway construction flagger was killed early Tuesday after a man charged with drunken driving slammed into her on an interstate entrance in Schaumburg, police said--the third highway worker killed this year in Illinois and the latest in a deadly trend of construction accidents nationwide.
Deborah Wead, 51, of Rockford was standing on the road's shoulder, illuminated by overhead lights, when a speeding car veered into her, authorities said. Her death highlights the rising number of workers killed in construction zones and the dangers of working as a flagger--a job that attracts women because it requires less physical strength but that comes with the increased risk of working near speeding traffic.
The number of people killed in Illinois construction zones more than doubled between 1999 and 2000, from 17 to 38. Since then, state officials have mounted an aggressive campaign, putting up billboards, nearly tripling the budget for state police patrols and handing out coloring books about safety at county fairs.
Still, 31 people died in construction zone accidents last year, and so far this year, 16 people, mostly drivers or passengers, have been killed. Nationwide, the number rose to 1,079 in 2001 from 693 in 1997, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The highway where Wead was killed, Interstate 290, has been under construction since March. Illinois Department of Transportation officials said that in that time they have kept at least two state troopers on patrol 24 hours a day and have issued more than 2,000 speeding tickets. Signs in a child's scrawl ask motorists to "Please slow down my mommy works here. Thanks Bobby."
Officials said they continue to see people speeding, talking on cell phones, reading newspapers and eating while driving through construction zones.
"We have done everything possible to reach the motoring public," IDOT spokesman Mike Monseur said. "Until people slow down, until they lay off the pedal, people are going to continue to die."
When she was hit shortly after 1 a.m., Wead was standing on the shoulder of the Higgins Road entrance ramp to I-290 south. Police said Walter D. Brown, 28, of Lemont lost control of his Saturn, hit Wead and crashed into a concrete barrier several yards from the roadside.
Wead's protective helmet was found in the back seat of Brown's car, and the plastic pole for the stop sign she was carrying had snapped, officials said.
Flaggers have one of the most dangerous jobs in highway construction.
"You're standing out there, swinging your sign, and people are coming at you at 80 m.p.h.," said Sheila Peters, 25, a flagger who has been hit four times in her two years on the job. "Drivers throw stuff at you. They spit on you. I've had several people jump out of their cars and scream."
Work crews sometimes prefer for women to work as flaggers, Peters said, because they believe drivers are less aggressive toward women.
Peters, of Crystal Lake, who makes $28 an hour, said she's lucky that the times she was hit, the cars were traveling 5 to 10 m.p.h. "It is insane. People ask why we get paid so much. We get hit before the laborer."
Wead had been on the job for less than six months. She died at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge about an hour after being hit.
On Tuesday, Wead's company shut down the accident site. Fellow workers brought a cross and hung her helmet on it. They said she was good at her job. She always had a smile and a wave. She never lost her temper, even when drivers lost theirs.
Her family gathered at the site to lay flowers and remember the woman who ran a cleaning business in addition to working construction so she could help pay for her daughter's wedding and provide for her nine grandchildren.
After her husband died of cancer, she raised her four children by herself.
"She was a hard-working woman who was very kind hearted," said her niece, Theresa Wead, 25. "She was out there doing her ... job. Now she's dead and we don't have her, and it's not fair."
Brown is charged with driving under the influence and driving too fast for conditions. He refused sobriety tests and Tuesday night was in the custody of Schaumburg police, officials said. In 1998, Brown was arrested on a DUI charge on Interstate Highway 90, close to where Tuesday's accident occurred. His blood-alcohol level in that case was 0.13 percent, according to court records.
He was sentenced to court supervision, his license was suspended for three months, and he was fined $525, records show.
Illinois has toughened work-zone driving laws three times in the last two years, IDOT spokesman Chris Schwarberg said.
In 2001, the legislature passed a law creating harsh penalties for drivers who injure highway or emergency workers at an accident site, Schwarberg said.
In January, the state increased the minimum fine for speeding in a work zone from $150 to $200 for a first offense. And this month, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill that allows speeding drivers who kill a construction worker to be charged with reckless homicide and face 3 to 14 years in prison.
State transportation officials, who were frustrated and angry Tuesday, said they're doing everything they can to prevent deaths. They launched the "Mommy and Daddy" campaign in 2000, recruiting the children of highway workers to make television and radio commercials. State officials increased the budget to $1.6 million from $600,000 for more state trooper patrols in work zones this year.
After police reported the death of a flagger at the hands of a drunken driver over Memorial Day weekend, IDOT leased billboards across the state and put up posters in rest stops of the worker, John Crosier, sitting with his 8-year-old son. Crosier's image fades in a series of three pictures. In the final picture, the boy sits alone.
"In some cases," Schwarberg said, "no matter what we do, there's still going to be problems with an alcohol-impaired driver or someone who is just speeding and ignoring all the warning signs."
Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune
I realize you don't like construction people, but please try to remember that there are people trying to get a job done around you. Drive the posted limit, and pay attention to what is going on around you.
Is it really so much for us to ask?
there are no words for me to express how pissed off that makes me. I've been growled at several times by my boss for not telling interviews that the recruiter is on the phone (I DO!!!) and for not telling the recruiter that his/her interview is here (WTF!? then how the hell do they find out and come up here!? did everyone get convenient telepathy while I was out to lunch or something!?!??). fuck you. I buzz the person, let him/her know. when he/she drags feet, I buzz again and then leave popup messages. I even over head page the fuckers and by this time, three other recruiters know that this recruiter has an interview sitting up here at the front cooling his/her heels. these interview people FUCKING LIE if they think it'll get them any kind of advantage to get a job. 
