Senate committee takes up safety cameras to protect road workers

 This week, the Michigan Senate’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard testimony on legislation that would allow for the use of safety cameras to monitor the speeds of vehicles driving through road construction projects.

Pam Shadel Fischer, senior director of External Engagement at the Governors Highway Safety Association, returns to the podcast to tout the effectiveness of the technology in other states.

Later, Gregg Brunner, chief engineer and chief operations officer at the Michigan Department of Transportation, explains why he supports the legislation and his takeaway after viewing a demonstration of the technology along a busy freeway.

Michigan could join 17 other states employing the technology to lower speeds in work zones, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

According to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse, more than 100,000 crashes occurred in work zones in 2020, resulting in an estimated 44,000 work zone injury crashes and 857 work zone crash deaths.

From a report on the topic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): "The relationship between driving speed and the risk of a crash and/or fatality is well established. In 2019, 26 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities occurred in crashes in which at least one driver was speeding."