RELATED: Don’t be that driver. Be safe through work zones.
Since 1951, 44 men have been killed while ensuring the people who travel on Mississippi roads have safe, passable infrastructure. This week is National Work Zone Awareness Week, but MDOT has extended awareness throughout the month of April. Truthfully, the men and women who serve on your roads extend this awareness throughout every moment of their lives.
Working alongside traffic is dangerous. Regardless of the amount of traffic, it only takes one brief moment of neglect while driving through a work zone to result in tragedy.
Often times, work zone accidents not only claim the lives of road crews, but of those in the vehicle involved. In 2015, there were five fatalities in Mississippi work zones; all of which were drivers or their passengers.
Keep in mind when behind the wheel: stay alert, pay attention, slow down, don’t text and drive, and remember the names of the men who have fallen in service to transportation in Mississippi:
1951
Lawrence H. Davis
1955
Albert E. Enis
1959
Richard H. Tisdale
1960
Henry R. Martin
1961
Grover L. Entrekin
Daniel E. Ladner
1964
Alfred H. Mizell
1967
Carl A. Smith
1968
Jacob F. Chambers
Ralph Davis
1970
Wilton E. Lang
1973
George Killens
Ernest Saucier
1975
Roy C. Jackson
1976
James M. Newell
1977
Arter I. Huddleston
1980
Clayton Johnson
James R. Lowery
1982
Robert K. Pauilihau
1987
Robert L. Evans
Warneal Roberts
1988
James Wright
Jimmy C. Weatherall
1990
Neil Thornton
Franklin L. Gilbert
1991
Chester A. Berryman
1993
William F. Brown
1997
Justin H. Edwards
1998
Albert M. Mullican
David R. Boykin
2001
Lamar Magee
Lucious Harris
James D. McDaniel, Sr.
Stayce M. Wilkinson
2003
Johnny C. Cooper
James T. Marsh
2007
David Lee Jones
2009
Samuel C. Clark
2010
Tyler R. Kilsby
Leon Sims
2012
Hollis Anderson, Jr.
2014
Henry Butler, Jr.
Ricky Daniel Murrah
1979
Edward B. Reves