AKRON, Ohio — With construction season underway across Northeast Ohio, Wednesday has been designated as “Go Orange 4 Safety Day” as part of National Work Zone Awareness Week.
Reminders about work zone safety come as ODOT tells 3News there were 4,098 work zone crashes throughout Ohio last year -- and 36 percent of those happened when workers were present.
In addition, ODOT says there were 1,433 injuries from the work zone crashes last year, 110 of which were classified as serious injuries.
Nine people were killed, including one contractor.
ODOT says Summit County led the state with 576 work zone crashes, followed by Cuyahoga County with 521 and Lucas County with 413.
August was the top month for work zone crashes.
Speeding continues to be a major factor for work zone crashes. Last year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol wrote 3,760 citations with 34 percent of those for speeds more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit, according to ODOT.
So far this year, ODOT says 43 crews have been struck while working. This compares to 56 ODOT crews that were hit in all of 2023.