GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Last year, nearly 4,000 crashes happened in Michigan construction zones, 200 of which took place in Kent County.
This year, Michigan State Police are stepping up their patrols to curb that statistic.
“There will be no warnings. This truly is your warning – the educational component to letting you know that we are going to be out there. We will be aggressively enforcing the law in traffic zones this year. So if you get stopped, you can expect to get a ticket,” said 1st Lt. Chris McIntire.
He says the two fatal crashes in construction zones last year were caused by distracted driving.
“That really is what we see the majority of the time in construction zones, is people weren’t paying attention. And they get into those zones and the traffic creeps up on them because it’s slowing down and crashes happen,” McIntire said.
“They need to put down their phone, the drink, the food they are eating, and need to take their foot off the accelerator and slow down,” said Jerry Byrne, deputy managing director for the Kent County Road Commission.
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