Rich Troisi, business manager for Local 125 Laborers International Union of North America, has a simple request: Drive safely through construction zones.

He is trying to bring attention to National Work Zone Awareness Week, which ended Friday, and its important message.

“It’s an annual campaign that aligns with the start of the spring construction season. But more importantly, it is a campaign about life, death, and our shared responsibility on the road,” Troisi said.

While everyone knows the frustration of traffic slowing to a crawl because of construction, Troisi asked that drivers try to shift their perspective and see the construction sites as workplaces like any other office, store, restaurant or factory.

“Now just imagine cars and semi-trucks flying past your desk at 65 or 70 miles per hour, sometimes just inches away,” he said. “That terrifying scenario is a daily reality for thousands of highway workers across the country.”

Troisi told commissioners that his union just lost a 25-year-old construction worker in Columbus last month in a hit-and-run incident, and the driver still has not been caught.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that between 800 and 900 people a year are killed in road construction zones. In 2023, the last year for which complete data is available online, 899 died. According to the Ohio Department of Transportation, about 21 people were killed annually in Ohio construction zone crashes from 2021 to 2025. There were 21 deaths in 2025.

According to ODOT, there were 21,981 work zone crashes, resulting in 103 fatalities and 7,937 injuries during that five-year span. About 50% of these crashes happen in just four counties — Cuyahoga, Hamilton, Franklin and Summit.

But NHTSA, ODOT and Troisi all point out one statistic that he said nobody considers – most construction zone deaths aren’t the workers — they’re motorists. Nationally, 85% of those deaths are the drivers, and Ohio stats put the number at about 65%.

The authorities all point out the same causes, Troisi said — distracted driving, ignoring speed limits, and failure to observe traffic signs and patterns.

But while drivers may be more at risk, Troisi said those stats don’t mean the workers are any less concerned about the danger.

“Behind every orange vest is a person — a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a friend,” he said. “They are out there in the blinding sun, the pouring rain and the dead of night, working to rebuild the infrastructure that (you) rely on to get to (your) own families safely. They have the fundamental right to a safe work environment, and the absolute right to go home to their loved ones at the end of their shift.”

Motorists in the Mahoning Valley will have ample opportunity this year to practice patience. More than $137 million in road construction projects are planned in the Valley this year, with detours, ramp closures and permanent traffic changes expected across the region.