AASHTO Journal, 23 October 2015
The Ohio Department of Transportation has been waging an aggressive social media campaign in recent months to emphasize the state’s “move over” law to improve highway work zone safety. Now, ODOT says the various posts it has made to Facebook and Twitter “have been viewed over a million times since July.”
That law requires motorists to move over and slow down when they see vehicles with flashing lights – including highway work crew trucks – on the side of the road.
It has been on the books in one version or another since 2004. The original law took effect to reduce risks from passing motorists to law-enforcement officers, emergency responders and tow operators.
It was expanded in December 2013 to apply to every stationary vehicle with flashing lights, including road construction, maintenance and utility crews.
The ODOT messaging campaign comes in a year when roadway work zone fatalities are rising. The agency said there have been 25 deaths in those zones on Ohio roads so far this year, compared with 17 during 2014.
Part of its social media campaign included highlighting an emotional video about the 1997 work-zone death of a seasonal ODOT employee. It has been viewed more than 29,000 times and is shown here: