The American Traffic Safety Services Association is seeking the submission of names to be included in its 2019 National Work Zone Memorial; a memorial that honors those who were killed in highway work zone crashes, including: roadway workers; non-impaired motorists; pedestrians; law enforcement officers; and first responders, such as firefighters and paramedics. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 1, the group said.
[Above photo by ATSSA.]
Lori Diaz, manager of the ATSSA’s Foundation, which is in charge of the memorial, explained to the AASHTO Journal in a phone interview that it is designed to raise public awareness about the growing human toll, in terms of fatalities and injuries, caused by work zone crashes. “The memorial travels all over the United States to about 10 to 15 events per year, with the most activity occurring in April in support of Work Zone Awareness week,” she said. “It helps with the healing process.”
ATSSA launched the memorial in 2002 and today it includes 1,455 names – names that can only be added via direct requests from families who lost a loved one or whose loved one suffered disabling injuries due to a work zone crash.
Diaz added that ATSSA supports two scholarship programs in connection with the memorial: one that provides money for children or spouses of highway workers killed or permanently disabled in a highway crash to attend college, while the other offers funds for children of highway workers killed in work zones to attend “experience camps” where they have an opportunity to work with grief counseling services.
