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States Use Work Zone Awareness Week to Urge Safer Driving as Crashes Rise

Fresh crash data push agencies to target driver behavior through stricter enforcement.

Overview

  • National Work Zone Awareness Week, which runs April 20–24, is underway with agencies urging drivers to slow down, stay alert, and follow posted limits.
  • Texas reported more than 28,000 work zone crashes in 2025 with 203 deaths, and officials say most victims were drivers or passengers.
  • Recent state counts include Oregon’s 2024 five-year high of 621 crashes with 14 deaths, Utah’s 2,154 crashes with four deaths in 2025, and Kentucky’s 1,156 crashes with 13 driver or passenger deaths in 2025.
  • Agencies are leaning on enforcement and engineering, with doubled fines in marked zones, hybrid speed control devices, and Connecticut preparing to switch on work zone speed cameras this summer.
  • Drivers should expect more lane shifts and closures as construction ramps up, including scheduled daytime shutdowns this week in El Paso work areas.