Road Warrior trucks help keep our crews safe – but we need your help too

By Elizabeth Mount

Two damaged Road Warriors are next to each other in the maintenance yard after
back-to-back work zone collisions on I-5 last year

Nick Bumgarner uses a lot of tools and experience when planning to keep everyone safe during roadwork. One of the most important – and most impressively named – is the Road Warrior.

Nick is our night crew supervisor in Mount Vernon and has worked with us for 6 years. He knows work zone dangers all too well: In the last year his crew experienced four work zone collisions – two on consecutive nights. Before those four collisions, Nick says since he had been in Mount Vernon there hadn't been any crashes – so it was a frightening series of wake-up calls for the entire crew.

Thankfully no one was seriously injured in the crashes, in large part due to the Road Warriors on the scene. But we can't rely on this protection – we also need drivers to do their part to help keep our crews safe.

So, what is a Road Warrior?

A Road Warrior is one of the key pieces of equipment our crews rely on to protect them in work zones, the yellow section on the end of the truck absorbs crash impact and protects crews up ahead.

It's not a worker – though our crews certainly face tough challenges. A Road Warrior is a piece of equipment that helps protect our workers when a vehicle doesn't move over and crashes into a work zone.

Officially called a truck-mounted attenuator, a Road Warrior is a big truck with a large, accordion-like shock absorber on the back. When someone crashes into a Road Warrior, the attenuator absorbs the energy from the crash, lessening the impact and protecting the crews up ahead.

Most work zones have two Road Warriors – one that sets up and takes down cones and barrels and is the last line of defense for our crew doing the work, and a second Road Warrior to protect the first one and warn drivers. Both Road Warriors play a vital role in protecting our workers. If a vehicle hits the Road Warrior, typically the damage and injuries are less severe.

Nick's crew is thankful his team had their Road Warrior out on the nights their work zone was crashed into. Without that piece of equipment who knows what would have happened to our workers?

Four crashes, one crew

The damage to a Road Warrior from one of the collisions was severe. Thankfully, the attenuator did its job by protecting our crew from being seriously injured. 

Traffic control plans, including advanced warning signs and flashing lights, were in place for each of the four crashes Nick's crew experienced on Interstate 5 last fall and winter. But no plan eliminates all danger – especially with the concerning and erratic driver behavior we've seen in recent years.

In the first crash a driver who said they were falling sleep slammed into the Road Warrior protecting crews clearing drains with a vactor truck, which is essentially a big vacuum.

In the second – the very next night – a driver was on their phone and distracted as they approached the work zone, again striking the Road Warrior as crews finished up work from the evening before.

In the third incident, Nick's crew was sweeping debris and dirt from the median when an erratic driver barreled through the work zone, collided with one of the attenuators and then fled the scene. Washington State Patrol was unable to locate the driver.

The fourth crash, just a few months ago, was while the crew was doing routine maintenance work along the interstate. A driver struck one of the Road Warriors and then kept on driving, though they were later stopped by Washington State Patrol.

In each case the crew had all the required markers, signs and flashing lights giving drivers advanced notice of a crew up ahead. The traffic control plan was reviewed after every crash for any gaps – but each time the review found that every part of the meticulous safety plan had been followed.

The crew was understandably rattled after each crash but they also credit the Road Warrior with saving their lives and preventing serious injuries.

We need your help

Nick has a wife and a young son. Our crews all have families they want to get home to at the end of the day.

Our work zone traffic control plans start with us and end with you – and even Road Warriors can't protect everyone.

Nick's crew doesn't need any more crashes to deal with, they'd rather focus on repairing the road and ensuring everyone makes it home safe at the end of the day. They need your help to do that.

Whenever you're approaching a work zone or see orange cones and vests, we ask you to slow down, stay calm, pay attention and be kind.

Please do your part to keep the road safe; it's a matter of life and death.

Meet Ashley Jackson: mom, wife, friend, traffic control supervisor

By Elizabeth Mount

Ashley Jackson has a message for drivers:

Get off your phones while driving.

Don't drink and drive.

And, slow down and pay attention in work zones.

Ashley Jackson and her team pose in front of variable message signs before performing rolling slowdowns on Interstate 405 in December. Courtesy of Ashley Jackson

Meet Ashley

Ashley used to be a certified nursing assistant. She says her schedule didn't allow for time off and the pay wasn't the best. She sought out an opportunity where she could have a more manageable work-life balance.

She obtained her flagger's card, several other certifications, and after several years of hard work she had enough experience to become a traffic control supervisor. In this role she will get contracted to set up traffic control for WSDOT on state highway projects.

Ashley says being a woman in a male-dominated field has been challenging. She feels like she needs to prove she can do the work. But a few male coworkers who want to see Ashley succeed go out of their way to make sure she is learning how to do different aspects of the job. She enjoys the work she does, in part because she loves being outside and doesn't mind getting dirty.

Ashley's not trying to ruin your day

Ashley creates traffic control plans based on the road size, closure length and traffic flow. For example, she developed a traffic control plan for the Barnes Creek fish passage project. The detour was large. Setting up a detour route starts with a lot of research and looking at maps to decide which roads can accommodate the traffic in the area. She drives the route several times, checking the traffic and making sure the roads can handle the extra vehicles. After that, she can put up signs, but she still needs to pay attention to the detour and adjust it as needed. This is just one facet of her day as a traffic control supervisor.

Traffic control doesn't eliminate the risk to our crews. Ashley says in her experience, the choke point where vehicles are finally forced to merge is the most common place for collisions. She wishes people would have more patience and realize road crews aren't trying to ruin anyone's day.

Ashley Jackson poses with her husband and son. Courtesy of Ashley Jackson

Ashley's plan can't stop distracted drivers

Not too long ago, Ashley and her team were on State Route 18 working in the right lane. They had set up everything necessary to take a lane – signs, support trucks, truck mounted attenuators, etc. But, a driver, who had been texting, ignored all the signs to move to the left lane and was forced to change lanes at the last second. That didn't work, and the vehicle hit another car and one of the attenuators protecting Ashley and her team.

Just as in Ashley's example, distracted driving is one of the top reasons work zone collisions happen. Ashley says travelers have become numb to work zone signs. But each of those signs isn't just a warning to drivers about upcoming lane closures – it's also a reminder that fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and friends will be working on the road and are vulnerable if somebody drives into their work zone.

Ashley and her colleagues all have families they want to get home to. Specifically, Ashley has a young son and a husband at home. For her to get home to them, safety needs to be a top priority for everyone using our roads.

Applications are being accepted for FREE overnight high school transportation camps this summer

By Lisa Walzl

Are you a high school student curious about how we decide where highways go, what we're doing to help the earth by reducing our carbon footprint or how we plan for the future of transportation while keeping people and goods moving? Ever just wanted to get a behind the scenes tour of a bridge or other parts of our state transportation system? Know a teenager who does?

If so, we have a summer camp experience for you. We're once again offering high school students a chance to spend a week exploring the transportation field with statewide experts, agency leaders and university professors at our Washington Transportation Camp 2024 hosted by PacTrans and WSDOT.

Students touring the WSDOT Transportation Management Center in Shoreline

We're offering two free camps this summer, both of which include staying overnight at a state university. One is a five-day camp at Washington State University in Pullman from July 21-26. The second is a five-day camp at the University of Washington in Seattle from Aug. 4-9. Students will stay on campus in university dormitories during the camp. All lodging and meals are covered by sponsors so there are no costs to the students.

The priority deadline to apply for both camps is April 28. Camps are limited to 20 students. To be considered, applicants must be entering 10th, 11th or 12th grade at a Washington state school for the fall 2024 semester and be able to attend the entire session. You don't need previous experience in engineering or transportation – but curiosity is a must!

To learn more about these programs and to apply, visit this link for the camp website.

Students working with a robotic car at the Washington State University camp

Both camps offer students the chance to:

• Take field trips with professionals to transportation facilities like the Northwest Region Transportation Management Center to gain insight into their inner workings.
• Showcase your knowledge in collaborative group projects.
• Make new friends and experience life on a college campus.
• Explore the potential for a future career in transportation—whether it's in engineering, planning, or beyond.

This could be the start of a career in transportation, engineering, planning or a whole host of other fields. But even if it's not, participants will have a better understanding of how we all get where we're going as well as how the things we buy and need get to store shelves or our homes – and what goes into making those trips as safe and smooth as possible. And some pretty good stories to share with friends and family about the unique experience you had over the summer.

We hope to see you there!

Nighttime road crews recall multiple work zone crashes

April Leigh

When the sun goes down and the evening commute wraps up, Joy Draper and his overnight maintenance crew get to work. Most nights you can find them fixing guardrail or cleaning drains on state highways in Pierce and Thurston counties.

The nighttime maintenance crew in Lakewood working on southbound I-5 in Tacoma

There are 15 people on Joy's crew. They are parents, children, grandparents, friends, neighbors and community members. Each one takes pride in their work and knows how important it is to keep our roads in good working order for all travelers. They deserve to go home to their families at the end of their shift. This team is like a family, and they look out for one another, especially in work zones.

But they worry, and for good reason.

We're seeing more speeding and erratic driving behavior in work zones– which puts everyone at risk.

The number of fatal crashes in work zones doubled in 2023 when compared to 2022. This is even more alarming because the overall number of work zone crashes decreased even while fatal crashes increased. This trend is deeply concerning.

Joy and his crew know this. They've experienced work zone crashes and worry the next one could be fatal.

A car and one of our vehicles after a driver crashed through a work zone on southbound I-5

Four years ago, Richard Burnham, a 60-year-old maintenance veteran on the crew, was in an early warning truck, which signals to drivers that there is work ahead. That's when his vehicle was hit at 60 mph by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel on southbound I-5 in Lacey. Burnham said the collision caused him shoulder, neck and back pain that had him in physical therapy and doctor's appointments for months. Physically, it took him a full year to recover from the collision. He also suffered post traumatic stress from the crash – and tensed up every time a vehicle got close to him.

In 2023, he was hit two more times in a work zone while inside a truck. Another crew member, Robert Rauch, was also hit twice the same year. In both collisions Rauch was inside a vehicle while parked in a work zone.

The vehicle and the truck Robert Rauch was in after a driver crashed through a work zone
on westbound State Route 512 in 2023

Four months into 2024, and this team already experienced another work zone crash. One crew member is still out recovering from the collision and unable to work.

Joy and his crew do what they can to protect each other and others while at work. They follow safety protocols. When they set up work zones, they use two early warning trucks with safety cushions and flashing lights. They place safety barrels along the roadway for hundreds of yards before they work. They also have a third truck with safety cushions near crew members working on the road, as a final line of defense.

The crew repairing guardrail on southbound US 101 in Olympia

While we are shifting some highway maintenance work to daytime hours for safety concerns and improved lighting, you will still see crews doing work at night. Traffic volumes are lower at night, but there still are risks to this type of work. It's harder to see work crews in the dark, for example, even with bright orange flashing beacons alerting drivers that a work zone is ahead. Our partners at the Washington State Patrol also report more speeding and drunk driving at night too – which also puts our night crews like Joy's at risk.

No matter when we do the work, we need everyone to slow down and pay attention to work zones. Joy and his team's lives depends on it. They frequently report seeing drivers on their phones, watching a show or just distracted traveling through work zones.

It's not just road crews at risk in work zones: Nationally, nearly 95% of people injured in work zone crashes are drivers, their passengers or nearby pedestrians. It is in everyone's interest to pay attention and drive safely in work zones.

The nighttime crew on State Route 512 in Puyallup. Three safety trucks can be seen
in the background of the work zone.

We need everyone's help to address this safety crisis. When approaching a work zone, we ask drivers to:

• Slow Down – drive the posted speeds, they're there for your safety
• Be Kind – our workers are helping to keep you safe and improve the roadways
• Pay Attention – both to workers directing you and surrounding traffic
• Stay Calm – expect delays, leave early or take an alternate route if possible; no meeting or appointment is worth risking someone's life

Joy's team will continue to work diligently to maintain our highways in Pierce and Thurston counties – but they need your help. Please slow down in work zones, look out for our crews and never drive distracted.