At a regional event in Michigan two years ago, Rachel Snell met Dave Krahulec, chair of The ATSS Foundation Board, and asked if the Foundation had any materials she could use with her students.

She wanted to teach them about the importance of work zone safety, thinking that if they started at a young age, the message would be remembered when they got old enough for a driver’s license. They also could share it with their parents and encourage them to be alert when approaching and passing through a roadway work zone.

This week, Krahulec delivered 250 of the Foundation’s youth activity books to her when he traveled to Michigan for the national kickoff event for National Work Zone Awareness Week.

That's when the widow of a roadway worker found out her idea had inspired their creation.

The Spring issue of Roadway Safety magazine is now available with a cover story that’s apt as we observe National Work Zone Awareness Week.

We take a look at “smart vests” being developed in Virginia in a collaboration between the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Audi of America, Qualcomm and American Tower Corp.

The smart vests provide an example of the potential for lifesaving benefits of cellular vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) technology.

Our first “Convention Extra” is also available online now.

National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) begins today with a straightforward theme: Drive Safe. Work Safe. Save Lives.

Statistics are sobering. In 2019, 842 people were killed in 762 fatal crashes in work zones, including 135 roadway workers, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. That means most of the people killed were motorists, passengers and pedestrians.

Today is Work Zone Safety Training Day, in which employers and workers are encouraged to pause voluntarily during the workday for safety demonstrations, training in hazard recognition and fall prevention, and talks about hazards, protective methods and the company’s safety policies, goals and expectations.

Rep. Tom O’Halleran (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) introduced H.R. 2481, the High Risk Rural Roads Safety Grant Program Act, in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bipartisan proposal, which is strongly supported by ATSSA, would direct federal roadway safety infrastructure funds to locally owned rural roads.

The fatality rate on rural roads is two times greater than on non-rural roads, according to U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) statistics. Additionally, local governments generally do not have the resources needed to make critical, lifesaving roadway safety infrastructure investments.

H.R. 2481 would create a $600 million competitive grant program that local governments could apply for, with the federal grant being funded at 100%. A specific $100 million set-aside is also included for tribal road safety.

In addition to ATSSA, the American Highway Users Alliance, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), National Association of Counties (NACo), National Association of County Engineers (NACE) and the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) endorsed the legislation.

The first time Kathi Holst lost an employee in a work zone incident was decades ago but she vividly remembers the heartache and overwhelming desire to closet herself off from the world. Instead, she had to keep going and deal with the myriad issues that arise from such a tragedy.

Doug Dolinar is still reeling from the death of an employee just six months ago.

Those experiences motivated Holst, president & CEO of RCMS in Naperville, Ill., and Dolinar, president of Guidemark Inc. of Souderton, Pa., to take part in ATSSA’s Roadway Worker Protection Summit scheduled for Feb. 8 as the kickoff event for the Association’s 51st Annual Convention & Traffic Expo.

ATSSA members’ support of The ATSS Foundation has helped it through a challenging year. “Giving Tuesday” is tomorrow and offers another opportunity to help the nonprofit Foundation finish strong.

The Foundation’s goal in this one-day effort is $5,000 and every bit helps.

This global day of giving offers a great way to support the work The Foundation does all year.

For anyone challenged to provide their children with meaningful activity amid pandemic concerns, The ATSS Foundation has a great option.

It’s offering a 32-page child’s guide for staying safe in roadway construction zones. The activity book is geared for ages 5-8 and includes 26 safety tips – one for each letter of the alphabet.

It offers a fun way to learn the ABCs of work zone safety with lessons like, “B is for Be prepared to STOP.”

The last time Cody Garner saw his father was when he dropped him at football practice. Hours later, his father was killed in a work zone accident.

Cody was just beginning his sophomore year of high school when he lost his father. Today he’s starting his senior year at the University of Arkansas where he is pursuing a double major and a double minor. He’s grateful to the American Traffic Safety Services Foundation for the Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarship he has received each year of his college studies.

Though this year’s pandemic has challenged people in countless ways, The Foundation still needs help to carry out the programs it offers to support individuals and families impacted by work zone incidents.

ATSSA President & CEO Stacy Tetchner will appear on the “Down with the Dig” podcast starting Tuesday. During the podcast, he talks to the hosts about work zone safety.

Down with the Dig hosts discuss safety, technology and legislation issues related to the Ohio Valley Region with their guests. The podcasts are produced by the Ohio Laborers-Employers Cooperation Education Trust.

Cameron Hutt was six years old when her father was killed in a work zone accident in 2006. Her mother was left on her own to raise Cameron, her younger sister and a third child on the way.

A dozen years later, when Cameron sought to become the first one in her extended family to get a college degree, the dream might have been out of reach if it hadn’t been for the Roadway Worker Memorial Scholarship offered by The American Traffic Safety Services Foundation.