PHOENIX – An Arizona Department of Transportation employee was killed Wednesday while setting up a sign alerting drivers to pavement repairs along Interstate 10 south of the Phoenix area.

Frank Dorizio, 55, was a member of ADOT’s Incident Response Unit, which helps keep Phoenix-area freeways safe by setting up traffic control, removing debris and assisting stranded motorists.

“While the Arizona Department of Public Safety continues its investigation, this is a tragic reminder that drivers must stay alert around construction zones and always be prepared for the unexpected,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Lives are on the line when dedicated highway workers like Frank Dorizio are making things better for all of us in work zones.”

Dorizio joined ADOT in October 2015 as a highway operations worker with the Little Antelope Maintenance Unit in northern Arizona. In 2017, he joined the Happy Valley Maintenance Unit in Phoenix. He joined the new Incident Response Unit last September.

“Whether or not we worked directly with Frank Dorizio, each of us at ADOT mourns his loss and honors his commitment to getting everyone safely home,” Halikowski said. “His co-workers and friends say the same thing about Frank: ADOT was his family, and he was committed to our agency's mission and to the people of Arizona.”

Dorizio is the first ADOT worker since 1998 to be struck and killed while working along a highway.

To call attention to the need to stay alert around work zones, many of ADOT’s overhead message boards will show the following over the weekend:

ADOT WORKER KILLED
IN WORK ZONE
DRIVE ALERT

Learn more about Work Zone Safety on FocusOnDriving.com.

PHOENIX – At the Arizona Department of Transportation, we take work zone safety seriously. Tasked with building and maintaining the state highway system, hundreds of ADOT personnel and contractors work side-by-side daily with speeding vehicles and, too often, distracted drivers.

Work zones are well marked, but crashes are still occurring. In 2017 in Arizona, nearly 1,000 collisions happened in work zones that resulted in fatalities. Drivers should pay heed because, according to national statistics, vehicle occupants account for more than 80 percent of traffic fatalities that occur in work zones.

That’s why, in an effort to again call attention to work zone safety, the Arizona State Capitol Dome will be lit orange from dusk to dawn, April 8-12, proclaimed Work Zone Awareness Week in Arizona by Governor Doug Ducey. ADOT is also partnering with the Industrial Commission of Arizona, Arizona Chapter of Associated General Contractors of America and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns to raise public awareness about why it’s important to pay attention when driving in work zones.

The No. 1 reason? It makes you – the driver and passengers – safer.

Paying attention to signage when approaching and driving through a work zone is an easy way to stay safe.

“Work zones are well marked – orange signs, cones, barrels and barricades are everywhere,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “Everyone has the opportunity, even the responsibility, to slow down and pay attention when driving toward a work zone. Doing this saves lives.”

“Dealing with the external factor of motorists makes maintaining safety in a work zone unlike any other workplace,” said James Ashley, director of the Industrial Commission of Arizona. “If you are driving through a work zone, it is imperative that you slow down, be alert and watch out for the safety of those working. There is no reason to speed through a work zone.”

While ADOT workers can be found in work zones on state highways, work zones exist on all roadways every day of the year in every corner of the state.

Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns said, “Surveys consistently show that safe and efficient streets and roads are one of the most important services that residents want from cities and towns. Drivers need to always be alert for the presence of work crews that are doing repairs and upgrades to our transportation system, and drive extra carefully around them.”

“Road and highway construction is critical to Arizona’s continued growth, clean air and quality of life,” said David Martin, president of the Arizona Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. “The men and women repairing and improving our roadways are exposed to the traveling public. For your safety and theirs, we are asking you to slow down in the ‘cone zone.’ Like you, construction workers have loved ones that want to see them arrive home safe. Again, please slow down in the ‘cone zone.’”

Follow these tips when traveling through work zones:

• Pay attention: Observe and obey posted warning signs, as well as flaggers. You can be cited for disobeying a flagger’s directions.
• Expect the unexpected: Speed limits might be lowered, travel lanes could be narrowed or eliminated and people may be working near your travel lane.
• Slow down: Speeding is one of the leading causes of work zone crashes. 
• Merge safely: Do it carefully and as directed by signage. In some locations a zipper merge may be used. 
• Don’t tailgate: The most common crash in a work zone is the rear-end collision. Don’t follow too closely and, again, slow your speed.

 For more information about work zone safety, visit FocusOnDriving.com.

PHOENIX – The Arizona State Capitol Dome will be lit orange April 9-13, proclaimed Work Zone Awareness Week in Arizona by Governor Doug Ducey, in an effort to call attention to the importance of being alert when approaching and driving through work zones on Arizona roadways.

“We want everyone to make it home safe,” said Governor Ducey. “Paying attention when driving through work zones will keep safe the men and women who build and maintain Arizona’s roads as well as everyone traveling through work zones.”

Being alert and paying attention to signage in work zones is especially important for motorists because national statistics show that vehicle occupants account for more than 80 percent of traffic fatalities that occur in work zones. In 2017 in Arizona, nearly 1,300 crashes occurred in work zones, resulting in 11 fatalities and 30 serious injuries.

Nationally, the total number of worker fatalities in road construction sites rose from 130 in 2015 to 143 in 2016.

“Highway workers are more than just numbers to us,” said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Brandye L. Hendrickson. “Every number has a face, every face has a name and every name has a story that matters. Work zone safety is everybody’s responsibility.”

Follow these tips when traveling through work zones:

• Pay attention: Observe and obey posted warning signs, as well as flaggers. You can be cited for disobeying a flagger’s directions.
• Expect the unexpected: Speed limits might be lowered, travel lanes could be narrowed or eliminated and people may be working near your travel lane.
• Slow down: Speeding is one of the leading causes of work zone crashes.
• Merge safely: Do it carefully and as directed by signage. In some locations a zipper merge may be used.
• Don’t tailgate: The most common crash in a work zone is the rear-end collision. Don’t follow too closely and, again, slow your speed.

For more information about work zone safety, visit azdot.gov/workzone.

PHOENIX – Give’em a brake, Arizona.

That’s the message the Arizona Department of Transportation is sending to drivers during National Work Zone Awareness Week. Through April 7, ADOT will join federal, state and local transportation organizations across the country to bring attention to the importance of being alert when driving in work zones.

Throughout this week on social media, ADOT will share personal stories about work zone safety from ADOT employees who work alongside speeding vehicles while building and maintaining Arizona’s highways. Motorists will see work zone awareness safety messages on overhead signs, too.

“Safety is the No. 1 priority at ADOT,” ADOT Director John Halikowski said. “When it comes to work zones, where vehicles can speed by just inches away, there are very few more dangerous places to spend a workday. We rely on motorists to pay attention when entering work zones, not only for the safety of our crews, but for drivers and passengers, too.”

According to the Federal Highway Administration, drivers and passengers accounted for 82 percent of work zone fatalities nationally in 2014, the most recent year with complete data. According to preliminary data for 2016, Arizona had seven fatal crashes in work zones, resulting in seven deaths, and 27 serious-injury crashes.

To protect motorists and those who build and maintain Arizona’s highways, follow these tips when traveling through work zones: 

• Pay attention: Observe and obey posted warning signs, as well as flaggers. You can be cited for disobeying a flagger’s directions.
• Expect the unexpected: Speed limits might be lowered, travel lanes could be narrowed or eliminated and people may be working near your travel lane.
• Slow down: Speeding is one of the leading causes of work zone crashes.
• Merge safely: Do it early and carefully or as directed by signage instead of barging into a line of vehicles at the last moment.
• Don’t tailgate: The most common crash in a work zone is the rear-end collision. Don’t follow too closely and, again, slow your speed.

For more information about work zone safety, visit azdot.gov/workzone.