VA - Police Crack Down on Construction Zone Speeding

Police Crack Down on Construction Zone Speeding
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Lynchburg, VA - In Lynchburg, police are working to protect road crews by cracking down on dangerous work-zone drivers. Officers say this project has been in the planning for weeks. The speed limit on the Lynchburg Expressway has been lowered to 45 miles per hour

Lynchburg road crews have seen their fair share of reckless driving. "We've had people just run the car right over in the ditch with the men in it before, so it gets pretty bad at times," road crew foreman, Robbie Williams, said.

Williams says work zones are more like danger zones. "Oh, they're pretty wild out here sometimes." Talkback:
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That's why police are jumping in to help eliminate some of that danger. "We're going to enforce it aggressively. If you are speeding in a work zone, not paying attention in a work zone or following too close in a work zone, you're going to get stopped and you are going to get a ticket," Officer R.T. Flynn with the Lynchburg Traffic Unit said.

And a work zone ticket will cost you more than a regular citation.

One of the biggest problems so far has been distracted driving. In the condensed lanes, there's not much room for mistakes. "Don't talk on the cell phone, don't put your make-up on, don't read a book, pay attention and drive," Flynn said.

In the last month, LPD has responded to more than a dozen work zone accidents, including one fatality.

"When you have signs out that tell people a way to go and a speed limit to maintain, they need to abide by that. It's just for everyone's safety, including theirs," Williams said.

To tell you how unobservant motorists can be. A worker told us that on Monday morning a driver literally went through the barricades and drove around the Fifth Street round-about. It's not supposed to be opened for several more months.