Association News

Associated General Contractors of America launch mobile advertising campaign on safety

Fifty-four percent of highway contractors reported that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), Arlington, Virginia. In response, association officials have launched a new mobile advertising campaign urging drivers who routinely pass through certain work zones to slow down and be alert.

Ken Kubacki, chair of AGC’s highway and transportation division, says 48 percent of contractors who reported work zone crashes on their projects claim motor vehicle operators or passengers were injured, and 24 percent of those crashes involved a driver or passenger fatality. Highway work zone crashes also pose a significant risk for construction workers, Kubacki says. Twenty-five percent of work zone crashes injure construction workers and 3 percent of those crashes kill them.

Work zone crashes also have a pronounced impact on construction schedules and costs, Kubacki says. Fifty-three percent of contractors responded that their highway projects have been delayed during the past 12 months because of work zone crashes. He adds 74 percent of responding contractors report they feel highway work zone crashes pose a greater risk now compared to a decade ago.

Association officials have launched a new targeted mobile advertising campaign designed to reach regular highway work zone drivers and urge them to be careful in roadside construction sites. As part of the campaign, drivers who regularly pass through highway work zones in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Birmingham, Alabama, and Evansville, Indiana, were sent mobile advertising with special work zone safety messages.

Kubacki says the ads show up only when the driver opens his or her mobile phone and either visits a web browser like Chrome or Safari or uses an app with advertisements. The campaign is crafted that way to avoid distracting drivers while they are on the road. During the past three weeks, more than 1.5 million motorists have seen the safety ad, Kubacki says, while several thousand have clicked on the ads to view more highway work zone safety tips.

“We are using technology to make sure 100 percent of our ads are reaching work zone motorists,” Kubacki says.

The work zone safety study was based on a nationwide survey of highway construction firms the association conducted in April and May of this year. More than 550 contractors completed the survey nationwide. View the national, regional and state highway construction zone survey results at www.agc.org/news/2018/05/23/2018-highway-work-zone-safety-survey.