Please make every effort to attend this Press Conference at ALDOT’s office TODAY
Monday, April 8th
at 9:00 A.M. and show your support for Work Zone Safety!
Media Advisory
From: Mobile Section, AlabamaAGC
754 Downtowner Loop West Mobile, AL 36609
251-344-8220 Office 251-610-6715
Contact: Charlotte Kopf charlotte@agcmobile.org
What: National Work Zone Awareness Week Kick-off
Press Conference with Alabama Department of Transportation Region Engineer Matt Ericksen
When: Monday, April 8, 2019
9:00 A.M.
Where: Alabama Department of Transportation Mobile Office
1701 Beltline Hwy N. – Mobile, AL 36618
Training Room – Building T
April 8-12 is National Work Zone Awareness Week.
Please join us Monday, April 8th at 9:00 AM at Alabama Department of Transportation’s Office in Mobile, as the Alabama Department of Transportation, AlabamaAGC, AGC’s Construction Leadership Council, Mobile and Baldwin County Road Builders Associations, and the Alabama Struck-By Alliance; City of Mobile Police Dept., ALEA, Mobile County Sheriff’s Dept., and Baldwin County Sheriff’s Dept. kick off Work Zone Awareness Week with a press conference to bring attention to the need for safe driving through work zones. “Drive Like YOU Work Here” is this year’s theme..
Each year the Alabama Struck-By Alliance, made up of approximately 20 organizations from around the state, reaches out to the public through an awareness campaign asking them to slow down and pay attention when entering a Work Zone.
Last month, in Mobile, AL John G. Walton Construction Co., Inc. experienced a tragic work zone death of one of their employees, Clay Crutcher. This tragedy brings up the importance of work zone safety and the need to bring awareness to motorists to SLOW DOWN and pay attention when driving through a work zone.
This is the second tragic work zone death John G. Walton Construction Co., Inc. has experienced in less than 4 years. Owner John G. Walton lost his son to a work zone death in 2015. Marshall Walton was only 25 years old. Following Marshall’s death, Johnny & Kathy Walton began a campaign to reinstate the vehicular homicide statute in the State of Alabama. With the help of Senator Trip Pittman, Representative Chris Pringle, AGC Lobbyist Chris Williams, and the District Attorneys’ Association along with many friends in the industry the Walton’s worked hard to get a new version of the law passed. After two years the “Marshall James Walton Worker Safety Act” was passed and signed into Law in April 2017 by Governor Ivey. The law makes Vehicular Homicide a Class C Felony and is punishable by one to nine years in prison based on the severity of the crime.
What will it take to get the public to slow down and pay attention when driving through a work zone?
There will be several coordinated events and press conferences
during Work Zone Awareness Week throughout the state, in addition to Monday’s Press Conference in Mobile.
Tuesday, April 9th we are asking as many people as possible to attend the
Mobile City Council Meeting wearing safety vests/t-shirts to show their support for those who have lost their lives in work zones.
Wednesday, April 10th has been designated as “Wear Orange Day” in honor of those who have lost their lives in Work Zones. We are asking members of all of our organizations to have their employees wear their safety vests or t-shirts to work on Wednesday! Also as part of this effort, the RSA towers in Mobile and Montgomery will be lit up in Orange on Wednesday evening.
We are encouraging our members to host a Safety Stand Down, Tool Box Talk,
or Safety Meeting anytime during the week to make their employees aware of the
importance of driving safely and undistracted through work zones by providing them with a power point presentation http://theconstructioncenter.org/struck-by-alliance-alabama/
Each year we track the number of employees from Alabama
who participate in this national event by asking them to register their stand down information to us: http://theconstructioncenter.org/struck-by-alliance-alabama/
Last year over 100,000 people were touched during the awareness campaign.
We hope you will make an effort to join us for this Press Conference on
Monday, April 8th at 9:00 AM at ALDOT’s office in Building T.
Please help us get our message out to as many people as possible about the dangers of driving through work zones.
Please visit our Facebook page: https://mtouch.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2530717233623702&id=160135680681881and help Share the Information on Work Zone Safety.