This special edition honors National Work Zone Awareness Week with an in-depth look at how awareness, advocacy, and innovation are creating safer job sites for road workers. First, we hear from Mitch Baldwin and Cameron Greene —two leading voices in the Work Zone Safety Coalition—who break down the latest policy efforts, the impact of federal and state-level changes, and how you can join the awareness campaign. Then, we spotlight NB West Contracting, winner of NAPA’s 2024 Asphalt Operations Safety Innovations Award. Their team share stories from job sites and explain how they developed this award-winning technology. Whether you're on the job site, advocating on the Hill, or driving through a work zone, this episode will inspire you to play an active role in protecting the people who keep America moving.
Published April 22, 2025
Richard: To help us with the conversation today, we've brought in two people, Mitch Baldwin from our NAPA team, and Cameron Greene from ATSSA. Welcome to the podcast, can you tell us just a little bit about yourself and your organizations?
Cameron: I'm Cameron Green. I'm the Vice President of Government Relations for the American Traffic Safety Services Association. A little bit about ATSSA; ATSSA is a trade association that represents the folks who manufacture, distribute, and install roadway safety infrastructure devices. Think of guardrail, cable barrier traffic, signs and signals, pavement markings, high friction surface treatments, temporary traffic control devices, and work zone safety devices. Those usually come from somewhere in our membership. There are a little over 1500 members companies across that spectrum. I've been at ATSSA for just over seven years now, serving in our Government Relations team, and I'm excited to be with you today.
Mitch: Thanks, Cameron. Mitch Baldwin, Director of Government Affairs for the National Asphalt Pavement Association. I have the pleasure of working with Brett and Richard on the Government Affairs side of things. I'm not an engineer, so I appreciate Richard and Brett's perspective as we go forward advocating NAPA's membership on Capitol Hill. This work zone safety discussion that we're having today is pretty timely in that, the next highway authorization will begin being drafted this summer. Cameron and I are excited to share some things that we're working on as it relates to the highway bill and works zone safety.
Brett: could you share a little bit about what led you to become a leader in this space and some of the recent activities that you're working on with the Work Zone Safety Coalition.
Mitch: I started with NAPA about a year ago. One of the things that Audrey and Nile asked me when I interviewed was to lead on works zone safety. It is a focal point and a priority for our staff. I guess there's some different buckets there: you have your awareness and education piece, you have your technical safety, MOU or MOT kind of piece, and then you have your advocacy piece. We're really leaning in on that advocacy piece and trying to bring some leadership on Capitol Hill.
Cameron: I'll say from the ATSSA point of view and why ATSSA is a leader on this. It really starts with our membership. If you talk with our membership, their number one concern is making sure that either themselves or the people they work with are able to get home each night when they go out to those work zones. Stepping up to being a leader comes from them. From them pushing us to find solutions. The fatality numbers are unacceptable and trying to find solutions at the federal level, which is something that Mitch and I have partnered on in the last year or so, to really try and find solutions. They’ve been pretty scarce so far at the federal level so we’re trying to find how we can protect folks in the work zone. That's where this partnership came from. We've worked with NAPA in the past on these issues and we want to continue to lead on them with NAPA.
Richard: Could you share how ATSSA became to be a leader in the work zone safety space and some key momements that have broadened the awarenes for this campaign?
Cameron: ATSSA has been a leader for this event, National Work Zone Awareness Week. It really, again, came from working with our membership. In this case, the Department of Transportation in Virginia, and trying to find ways to raise awareness about work zone safety among their district employees. Going from the district in 1997, up to the State level in 1998, and working and engaging with how we can do this nationwide. We took it in 1999 to the FHWA, the Federal Highway Administration, and launched the first official National Works Zone Awareness Week and it's really gained traction from there. The first event we held in 2000 was in Springfield, Virginia, and we have been holding these events ever since. Really, the goal in all of this is to continue to raise awareness. Awareness is really the top issue when we talk about work zone safety. Making sure that people know that when you see people out in the work zone, you need to slow down. You need to treat them like you would law enforcement or some sort of emergency services. Slow down and take precautions. Trying to find best practices and work zone safety among folks in the private sector like ATSSA members in industry, and road way workers, State department of transportation, law enforcement.
Really trying to get outreach to everyone involved in work zone safety informed partnerships like we did with NAPA. I guess it’s almost a 30 year mission. This year we're having the week in North Carolina, and we have a great schedule lined up for that. Any listener should take a look at what's happening this week in North Carolina and try and get involved.
Brett: could you talk a little more about how NAPA's leading in this space?
Mitch: So let me back up a minute. My alma mater is actually the Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration. Unfortunately, when I was employed there in 2022, six workers were killed on 695 from a driver going over a hundred miles an hour that was intoxicated. So, this is critical issue for me personally, just because of that. But also, Maryland hosted the National Work Zone event last year after that tragic incident. Audrey and I were able to go and take part in the unity ride. I think they had over a thousand trucks going around 695 as a way to raise awareness for the issue with the public, which was great to see. I'm sure we have some cool pictures from that too to share with the group.
The Watch for Us campaign, I think the social media aspect and how people receive information nowadays, is critical in making this issue front and center for people that are driving down the road every day. It is so important, like Cameron said on the advocacy front, that education and awareness is critical. I'll give Cameron some credit here, ATSSA was fortunate enough to have a witness with us for one of the T&I Safety Hearings for the new highway bill drafting process. Cameron's member, Haley Norman, did a great job talking about work zone safety. She got questions from about six members of that Committee on the topic. A lot of those questions were planted and a lot of those questions were brought up because of the work that Cameron and I had done prior to that. Having folks out to work zones and getting them involved and interested and seeing it firsthand in their districts. I think that is just so important. It makes it a lot harder for someone to say no or not be willing to listen once they see somebody going by a paving crew doing 70 miles an hour. The only thing that's between the paving crew and that vehicle is literally a plastic cone. Seeing that firsthand, I think makes all the difference in the world.
The Watch for Us campaign, I think the social media aspect and how people receive information nowadays, is critical in making this issue front and center for people that are driving down the road every day. It is so important, like Cameron said on the advocacy front, that education and awareness is critical. I'll give Cameron some credit here, ATSSA was fortunate enough to have a witness with us for one of the T&I Safety Hearings for the new highway bill drafting process. Cameron's member, Haley Norman, did a great job talking about work zone safety. She got questions from about six members of that Committee on the topic. A lot of those questions were planted and a lot of those questions were brought up because of the work that Cameron and I have done prior to that; having folks out to work zones and getting them involved and interested and seeing it firsthand in their districts. I think that is just so important. It makes it a lot harder for someone to say no or not be willing to listen once they see somebody going by a paving crew doing 70 miles an hour. The only thing that's between the paving crew and that vehicle is literally a plastic cone. Seeing that firsthand, I think makes all the difference in the world.
Richard: policy makers have that ability to make a real impact when it comes to work zone safety. What actions have been effective and where do we need to either get additional support?
Cameron: I know Mitch just gave ATSSA some nice kudos, but the work NAPA has done, especially to bring legislators and Members of Congress out to work sites, to active work sites, and have them see how dangerous it is out there for roadway workers.
I think there's no better way to really drive home the message that we need to protect people in work zones, than to have someone out there to experience what it's like on a day-to-day basis. The other way that we found real success, and Mitch just talked about having an ATSSA member testify back in February, at a T&I Hearing. Having our members and the people who are out there each day bring their message to Capitol Hill, whether that's through a fly in, through a hearing, through testimony that both ATSSA and NAPA provide to committees. Getting the message to folks that we need to find ways to protect workers and having it not come from government relations professionals like myself and Mitch, but from the people on the ground each and every day. We've found real success in taking that message and trying to get it to the folks who have the ability, as Mitch mentioned, to write the next highlight bill, which in the process of writing right now. It's really just trying to take what we're hearing on the ground and get it to Capitol Hill in any way that we can.
Mitch: I would also add, I mean there are things that we can do on the federal policy side, but I think a lot of the policy development at the State level has been critical in changing outcomes. I know States around the country have done different things, a lot of them have beefed up either their automated speed enforcement programs or expanded them. There's also some States that have different fine structures for people that speed or drive recklessly in the work zone. I know those models are different nationwide, but I think that's a critical piece of this. We can provide and we advocate for Congress to provide resources and funding for work zone safety, but I think that where the rubber meets the road, is at the State level. It really is just as impactful as what we're doing on the national level.
Brett: what are some of real big success stories coming from either federal or State level?
Mitch: Maryland’s a pretty good example. After the tragedy in 2022, Maryland expanded and recreated their automated speed enforcement program. Previously it was a $40 flat fine, and it didn't matter how fast you were going in the work zone. So, if you're going a hundred in the speed limit is 60, you still got that $40 fine in the mail. Since then, they've changed the program up. Now it's a tiered structure and there's also increased penalties for repeat offenders. I think that's critical because a $40 ticket in the mail is not really doing too much for the average person. If that person's going 80 in a 40 in a work zone, they get a fine in the mail for a couple hundred bucks. That's going to be a lot more impactful in their bottom line for their monthly budget than the $40 that they would've gotten before. Again, it brings that awareness and that emphasis on you gotta slow down or this is the consequence. Another thing that I think has been successful, and this is not only for work zone safety but just general road safety, is the different lighting that State DOTs and contractors are using. I was part of the team that got green lights acceptable in Maryland for usage on the highway. I know some States are making blue and red lights, but I think that lighting definitely brings more awareness and just more of an eye catcher than anything else to people going through the work zone. So, I think that's a good one too.
Cameron: Just to build on what Mitch said. He said the a-word that I think is the number one issue that we face right now, and that's awareness. At the State level, it's trying to bring awareness. And whether that's awareness by receiving, like Mitch said, a check, or an invoice in the mail saying you owe a couple hundred dollars for speeding through a work zone. We know in some States, I think Oklahoma was the first to do this, was to include mandatory work zone awareness training and driver's ed programs starting with younger drivers. Really at the State level, we've seen a lot more success when we have at the federal level. Trying to find ways to get motorists to pay attention, to take work zone safety seriously, whether that's hitting them in their pockets, pulling them over, and just trying to do it, start young. One other area we've seen successes is with including mandatory work zone safety awareness training in driver's ed programs. And we've seen it spread to a few States across the country. So, trying to get to younger drivers, trying to get to drivers who may be distracted or speeding through work zones. Again, it's all an awareness issue. That's the stage we're at right now in terms of work zone safety, especially at the State level.
Mitch: I'd also like to add, on the federal side of things, I know NAPA advocated in IIJA, which for anybody that doesn't know is the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. There was a provision in IIJA that was added to allow for the use of safety contingency funds. Basically, State DOT contracts we're operating in a low bid environment. This allows a very small fraction of the overall project cost, you get that as, basically a plus-up to the contract. So, if there's anything, that goes on in the project delivery process where there’s some kind of safety protocol missing, whether it be police presence, or barrier wall, or some kind of automated flagging system. Whatever that safety product is, you can use this fund to not require the contractor to do a change order and have a negotiation with the DOT. It’s is simply a form between the contractor and the project engineer and they discuss and figure it out. Then that little bit of money on top of the contract can be used to pay the contractor back providing that safety solution. I think that's great because it provides efficiency, it provides certainty for the contractor, and I think it gives the DOTs little bit more flexibility to allow some things to change at the site, than what was actually in the bid itself.
Richard: let's put a pause on policy and think personal for a minute because there is a definitely a personal side to looking at work zone safety. Both ATSSA and NAPA have foundations to try to help those that have been impacted by incidents and work zones. Can y'all talk a little bit about what your organizations are doing.
Cameron: It's great to highlight both of these foundations Richard. The ATSSA Foundation has a number of programs designed to support the family's affected by work zone crashes. The main one with our Foundation is the Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarship Program. It's a scholarship program designed for the children of roadway workers who have been killed or permanently disabled in work zone accidents. It helps them pursue higher education and really look to try and build a future after this terrible loss. I'd love to highlight just in 2024 alone, the Foundation provided $80,000 in scholarships to help 12 students pursue their career after going through such a tragedy. The ATSSA Foundation also has a National Work Zone Memorial that goes across the country and serves as a reminder of what the human cost of work zone incident crashes and tries to raise awareness through that. More than 1600 names are listed on it, so we want to stop that number from going any higher. That's really the work that we're trying to do. Ideally, we would love to give out no money in scholarships going forward because we don't have any families that suffer the tragedy that we've seen in the past.
Mitch: When I started with NAPA, I found out what NAPA Care was, and I think it's just an awesome program that NAPA has implemented. It’s been going on for about a decade, since 2012. We provide a tax free cash benefit to NAPA members, or NAPA member company employees, that unfortunately lost their lives in a work zone. So far over 38 people have benefited. This is a great program that was originally stood up by our Associate members.
I think that it's just critical, as a dad to young kids, I can't imagine losing a spouse, losing an income, and then having to provide for those kids. This is just a great benefit to being a NAPA member. Also, it’s just such a thoughtful thing for folks to donate to and to be a part of. So, I really appreciate that.
Brett: Awareness is good, we're increasing those fines and enforcing those speed limits better in work zones. But what are other things that could be done?
Mitch: I see it going to work every day. Obviously I pick on Maryland just because it's my home State and I've lived here all my life. But, there's some crazy drivers out there and it's unfortunate. I think what you said about disrespectfulness, I would say it's disrespectful to go that fast in a work zone. I would also say it's disrespectful to drive that fast on the highway, just generally. It goes back to the speed enforcement program and automated enforcement is great. I think that it is impactful in hitting people in the pocketbook, but I think that there's no better deterrent than an actual law enforcement officer making a traffic stop and having that frank conversation with the person that's speeding through the work zone. Arkansas has done a program where they're using a hybrid model. They have a speed feedback camera in the front of the work zone, and then the police officer sits at the end of the work zone. If the speed feedback camera reads you're going too fast, the officer at the other end of the work zone will pull you over outside of the work zone. So, you create that cadence where you're not having an officer pull somebody over in the work zone, which could create another dangerous circumstance for our workers and the police officer himself. I think it's more impactful to have the officer do the traditional traffic stop with the person rather than them just getting a letter in the mail saying they owe a couple hundred bucks. You know how it is? It's just more personal and more humbling,
Camron: To continue on with talking about how we change driver behavior, as Mitch has talked about, speed enforcement, having to pay a fine, getting points on your license, whatever it may be. That takes time. Time also means that we're going to lose people in work zone and that's something that we obviously don't want to see. One thing I know is some members, and I know Mitch has talked to me about some NAPA members, are really rolling out new technologies to try and make work zones safer for the workers, for the drivers, and for everyone involved in that ecosystem. Whether that's sending messages to car dashes saying there's a work zone approaching using cloud-based technologies, using smarter technologies in work zones, we're really trying to push innovation and trying to find ways that we can use technology to make everyone involved safer. Changing driver behavior is difficult, but if we can protect people and alert people in different ways than we have in the past, we can also find some successes there
Brett: We've been discussing legislative and federal efforts to keep workers and drivers safe, but safety doesn't just happen. It takes innovation, commitment, and a willingness to find new solutions that make the real difference. That's why I'm excited to take a break from our conversation to highlight a company that's doing just that. NB West was recognized with a 2024 Asphalt Operations Safety Innovations Award for their efforts to improve job site safety. Joining me is Tim, Nick, and Noah from NB West Contracting. Can you tell us a little about yourself and NB West?
Tim: Hi, I'm Tim Swaringam, the Safety Director for NB West.
Nick: Hi, I'm Nick Brewer. I'm Shop Manager for NB West. I was part of the Safety Committee when this issue arose and I helped bring it from idea to design, and get it installed on our machines. Watching it get the recognition as much as it has is kind of wild and unexpected to me. We’ve modified many different pieces throughout the years. Usually for production or just to make it user friendly. This was really the first thing that has gotten this much attention and recognition as far as a safety, advancement, or improvement.
Noah: My name is Noah. I’ve run a paver for NB West for the last seven years and 14 years for another company before that. These safety cages are definitely something I wish would've existed a long time ago. I actually got hit a couple times on the paver. These cages would've saved me from being hit both times. I've known six or eight other paver operators over the years, and all I've known have been hit at least once. This safety cage won't save everyone from getting hit every time, but it's gonna cut down 90-plus-percent of the incidents that would possibly happen because of the lack of the cage. So, I was happy to be a part of this and I got to spend all last summer with Tim and we spoke a lot about this cage before it came to light. It was something I was really excited about, so was Tim, and so was Nick. So, we're really happy to see it come to fruition here, and hopefully we can get it on some pavers in the future.
Brett: Could you share how this idea came about and why NB West really decided to make that innovation?
Tim: We had an incident that occurred and I really hate that something has to occur for it to come to light for a safety improvement to be made, but there's an incident that occurred. We started really investigating the incident and talking with Noah, this happens all the time. So we started looking at the hierarchy of controls versus administrative controls. We really looked into that pretty hard, trying to administratively manage the route the trucks would take and make sure that they weren't coming in from behind the pavers. But that just wasn't possible in all scenarios. So administrative controls weren’t gonna work. So, I took a step back, presented it to our Safety Committee, and we started getting ideas. Then Nick and I went out and started looking at the paver and I was like, 'Man, what about a cage to go around that seat to protect that operator’no matter what position that seat's in.' Nick's like, ‘Man, I think I can come up with something pretty quick and I don't think it'd be extremely hard.’ We just started working on it and ideas started flowing. Next thing I know, Nick has a design and sending it to a fab shop and we got the first one in and put it up and made a few adjustments from there. That's really how it happened. It is crazy to look back on it and understand that we did go through the hierarchy of controls and really started with administrative controls and went to engineering controls after that to take care of this hazard. PPE wouldn't have worked, and that's always the last resort in the hierarchy of controls. But PPE would not have worked for this either.
Nick: It is really good that we came up with an engineering solution for this. I think something that helped drive it from start to finish was the Safety Committee because it was a monthly meeting so you have somebody checking where you're at, what's your status with it. It was literally in our first Safety Committee meeting this idea was discussed, and we decided that ‘yeah, we're gonna do something about it. We're gonna move forward with it.’ And then, by the next meeting, next month, I had one on on the machine. As the year continued, more machines got completed. I think that the other members of the meeting, checking on status of this and other things that were going on throughout the company, helped drive them from start to finish.
Tim: And a couple other things with our Safety Committee last year, we started tracking process improvements that the Safety Committee would vote on and approve. We ended up with about 26, 27 different process improvements that were made throughout the company last year. Some of it was production, some of it was safety, and some of it was quality, but all of that goes into having a successful job. When you're lacking in one of those areas, you're not gonna have a successful project. So it was great to track all of the process improvements and that really is what ignited the flame and kept us going and made it be successful.
Brett: Are you seeing measurable improvements in your operations with the efforts of the Safety Committee as well as installing these safety cages?
Tim: As far as the safety cages go, we haven't had another incident. I don't even know of another close call or near miss. I hope we don't have one to prove its value, but I know the mind frame, the mindset of the operators, which Noah can talk to this, is better. They feel safer when they're sitting in that paving chair, that operator seat.
Noah: You know, I spent over 21 years on a paver and, like I said, I had a lot of close calls. I was actually hit a couple times and, you end up getting hit with the truck mirrors. They sit up high enough that these mirrors hit you, but if you can imagine a truck coming 35, 40 miles an hour, even coming from behind where you can't see them coming, and you get hit in the elbow by a mirror. It actually breaks the entire mirror off the truck. It's pretty brutal for what it is. These cages, like I said, I've sat in the pavers that have the cages on now, and for sure, it is going to save the majority of these incidents. There may be a fluke thing that still happens where someone gets an injury, but I would've loved to have one of these cages for my whole career, you know? I would like to see 'em on every paver that ever comes off the production line because there's no reason for them not to be there. It's definitely something that's gonna save a lot of incidents and it's gonna help a lot of our operators in the future.
Tim: The Safety Committee and the process improvements overall, it created a value for the Safety Committee where it wasn't just come in and sit down and meet for an hour and nothing really comes out of it. Our Safety Committee has members from the President of the company, Chris West, who really gave us the go ahead and just said ‘run with it and come back to me and let me know what you got.’ He was involved with the meetings and him and I would talk. I'm sure Nick and him would talk about it every once in a while, but, it wasn't like, ‘oh my god, how much money are you spending? Or what's the cost of this?’ or anything like that. It was like, ‘Hey, this needs to be done you guys. I trust you. Go take care of it.’ It was really nice to have that. Having a boss like that, an owner. The process of improvements really helped create a value for that Safety Committee where you could track and see that things were getting done throughout the year. It created a lot of ownership, and creating ownership's a big deal. Having that value there. It really let people know they're not wasting their time and it's not just another Safety Committee meeting that there's no value in.
Nick: It created a lot of accountability. You definitely didn't want to be the only one at the meeting that hadn't accomplished anything between the last meeting and that one. It really did have a sense of accountability to accomplish anything that you were asked with.
Brett: As someone that is out there working on project sites, or your teams out there working on project sites, building and maintaining our road infrastructure. Is there something that listeners could take home with them today when they're around those folks out there working?
Tim: This is the one I lose sleep over. We have multiple crews working on heavy highways, major interstates. Some of 'em work at night and they all have families to get home to. They’re out there just trying to make a living to support their families and the only thing protecting them from somebody on their cell phone, not paying attention, a drunk driver, whatever it may be that could go into the work zone and hit 'em and take their life. But the only thing that protects them are cones and signs. Tell 'em to slow down and to be aware. And what I would ask for any listener is what if that was your husband, your wife, your son or daughter working out there? How much slower would you drive? How much more attentive would you be? Because that's who's working out there. Somebody's husband, wife, father, brother, sister, daughter, it’s somebody's family that's working out there and they want you to slow down and take extra precaution and really watch out. Try not to let anything happen and let their family come home to 'em every night.
We had two incidents last year, one where a dump truck ran through a closed work zone. We had a shut down on both ends with flaggers. all of our signs up according to M-U -T-C-D. He lost his brakes, went around the flagger, hit an operator in a skid steer, that was unloading a truck and pushing rock off the roadway. That operator is still out of work. That happened in April of last year. Our guys did nothing wrong. They had everything set up correctly, doing everything the right way and something happened. Then, few weeks after that, we had another incident. This was on a night crew where a drunk driver drove through a closed roadway. The roadway was closed on both ends, even had a cop at each end with our lights on, with sign boards, signs, cones. Again, everything according to M-U-T-C-D. The drunk driver drove through, hit our arrow board into the cop car. Then the drunk driver, was trying to flee away from the cop and drove through our work zone, weaving around through our vehicles and luckily hit a $300, well $380000, brand new sweeper machine with 81 miles on it and demolished it. Luckily, he hit that because if he had made around that sweeper truck, he'd have hit eight of our people that were out there working. National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week is huge to us. We really hope that a couple of these stories really have value with your listeners and really makes a difference where it ends up saving a work zone worker's life. I'm sure Noah probably has some input on this as well.
Noah: In the 21 years that I spent on a paver, we've seen some really bad things happen out in the field. You get a lot of passersby coming and hollering out the window, throwing things at us, and we're all just there to make a living. You know, we’re just trying to go home to our families. And a lot of the things that people see out on the roadway when they come through and they feel like they see a bunch of guys standing around, they don't understand the situation or we're waiting on trucks or whatever it may be. We take a lot of heat out there and at the end of the day, you get this feeling like the passersby don't have a lot of feelings for us out there in the field. Something that we really wish that everyone would think about and let us go home to our families. Over the 21 years, I've seen a lot of incidents. I lost a couple of close friends on the job site. Never any fault of the company. It was always, you know, like Tim said, a drunk driver or someone texting, it was always someone coming into a closed work zone. No one really thinks about those things until you lose somebody close to you out there in the field, you know? Then it's always, woulda, coulda, shoulda. So the one thing, like Tim also said, that we can't control is the passersby, the traffic out there. We can't control it. We do the best we can, but at the end of the day, we’re at their mercy a lot of the time. So, if we could put more emphasis on everyone out there paying attention when they come through the work zones, it's about the only thing that we can do to really help us.
Nick: I kind of think about it like, you’re trying to get to work in the morning and there always seems to be that one slow moving vehicle. You're not gonna make everybody care, but if you're in a line of vehicles and you can see a hundred vehicles, if you've got one person that cares, you be that person. Be that example to follow the work zone speed limits and slow everybody down. You're naturally gonna cause traffic to move slower behind you. That's one way I've thought about it a little bit in the past. You are not gonna get everybody on board with whatever you're trying to do. But if you can be the person that cares, then you might be the one to make a difference.
Tim: I had a phone call last year from an irate driver sitting in a work zone saying ‘I've waited here for five minutes. You're not letting me through fast enough. Your flaggers don't know what they're doing. They're just standing here and they're not letting me through.’ And I started having that conversation with him about, ‘Hey, these people are out here working, trying to make a living. They just want to make a home to their family. Sorry if you're gonna be 10 minutes late to your dinner or your meeting but please start thinking about that.’ By the end of the conversation, the guy's tone changed. The gentleman's tone changed for sure. He started apologizing. He goes, ‘you guys do great work and thanks for making me really stop and think about your workers that are out here doing this work and their lives.’ Everybody has that mental block, I guess where they're just thinking about what they got going on whenever they're driving, what meeting they gotta get to, what appointment they gotta get to running late, this and that. They don't stop and think about the workers that are out there working and risking their lives. So that was one of the best conversations I had as far as having a breakthrough, with somebody that was being very irate.
Richard: what role do you think technology can play in this space in making our work zones a better place to work?
Cameron: I think it can do a couple of things. There's technology that can take workers out of harm's way and move them further away from the side of the roadway and put them in positions where they're more protected. It can alert drivers in ways that we haven't been able to before. Collecting data to understand where we have real issues and what parts of the roadway we have issues. It's really tough to collect data, especially on work zone intrusions and things like that, because a lot of times they go unreported. So, it could be data collection to better protect workers. I think there's a couple of different ways and we're really at the forefront. There's wearable technology that can alert workers when a car has intruded into a work zone. We have a number of things that we're really pushing and would love to continue to work, especially on the federal side with FHWA, the Department of Transportation and State Departments of Transportation, to have these technologies certified and implemented. We want to get them out to work zones as soon as possible, because we really think there's an opportunity to save lives there.
Mitch: I'll pivot from the technology on the actual work zone piece of this and go to the car manufacturing piece. It's crazy to me, being a nineties baby, seeing the cars in 2025 versus the car that I got into when I was at a high school. They're way more connected. I think there's plenty of opportunity for vehicles themselves to become safer or connected with the work zone. Like Cameron was talking about with that specific work zone safety technology, I think there's gonna be some great innovation in the next decade on keeping cars away from the actual workers in the work zone.
Making them understand where the car is relative to the workers, the equipment, to the paving crew, to every aspect of the actual work zone. So I think we'll see some advancements there. I think that'll be another opportunity to save lives and get everyone home to their families.
Brett: What's one key takeaway or an action you'd like every listener to walk away with today?
Mitch: I know we've talked about this a lot today, but I think awareness, that word is key to me. That's the most key word in the actual event itself: National Works Zone Awareness Week. I think as far as takeaways go, that is the biggest takeaway from the week itself. We want to make sure that not only are the drivers aware, we want to make sure that the policymakers are aware. We want to make sure the workers are aware and we want to get some good policy on work zones done. So, I think the awareness word is the key.
Cameron: If you are someone who works in a work zone, tell your story, and tell your leaders whether that's at the State level, whether that's in your local level or in Washington DC. Tell your story about what it's like to be in the work zone. Tell the story that you've unfortunately lost someone in the work zones and really try and drive the message home that they need to get involved at whatever level of legislation. You can try and find solutions to protect workers and really be an advocate. Mitch and I can do our jobs as best as we can, but we're not constituents. We're not professionals in this field of work zone safety or paving or roadway infrastructure. So, they want to hear from you. If you have the opportunity, please tell your story and let your policymakers know that we need to protect workers.