What To Do If You’ve Been Injured On The Job While Working On Illinois Highways
Anyone driving around Chicagoland or elsewhere in the State of Illinois today deals with the plethora of construction work zones on our local highways, byways, streets, roads, and interstates. They’re everywhere. And they just keep coming: there are eighteen (18) new highway construction projects beginning in Cook County alone this year.
Of course, this is great for our infrastructure and the efficiency of our internationally known transportation industry. Literally billions of dollars have been dedicated to this effort, where highway road work projects will be a part of our daily lives through the end of the decade. For details, read “IDOT Unveils 6-Year, $41 Billion Plan for State Infrastructure Projects,” written by Peter Hancock and published by WTTW on July 7, 2023.
How much highway road work is going on in Illinois? It’s amazing. There is so much road construction here that it is literally impossible to see any area of the state that does not have ongoing roadway work projects, from the interstate level down to our local bridges, on the current online road construction work zone map provided by Getting Around Illinois. The entire map is covered with active road work zone projects.
Of course, with all these highway road work projects comes an increased danger not only to drivers on these roadways (and their passengers) but to the construction workers who are on the job somewhere in the road work zone. The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) warns the risk is high for people to be hurt or killed in work zone crashes: the IDOT data (2018 to 2022) reveals each year there will be over 6,000 work zone crashes with over 1,600 injured crash victims.
Unfortunately, statistics show there will continue to be Illinois construction workers who will die in an on-the-job accident in one of our road work zones. Most of these deaths will be the result of the worker being hit by a motor vehicle and suffering fatal collision injuries.
The Laws of Illinois Highway Road Work Zones
With these dangers come safety laws to try and protect people from being hurt or killed. First of all, there are special laws and regulations that define legal duties of care and safety placed upon employers who have workers on the job in a road work zone. See, Work Zone Accidents in Indiana and Illinois & Risk of Serious or Deadly Roadside Crashes In Work Sites and Work Zones in Illinois and Indiana: Fatal Accidents, Serious Injuries.
Referencing Illinois law as well as industrial standards (e.g., ANSI D-16.1 – 2007, 2.5.24 and 2.7.8), IDOT defines an Illinois “work zone” as:
“…an area of a highway with construction, maintenance, or utility work activities. A work zone is typically, marked by signs, channelizing devices, barriers, pavement, markings, and/or work vehicles. It extends from the first warning sign or high-intensity rotating, flashing, oscillating, or strobe lights on a vehicle to the END ROAD WORK sign or the last Temporary Traffic Control (TTC) device (Federal Highway Administration Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices [MUTCD]).”
IDOT explains that the highway work zone has specific parameters:
“…a work zone begins at the first warning sign or high-intensity rotating, flashing, oscillating, or strobe lights on a vehicle. In Illinois, the first warning sign for a work zone consists of an orange diamond sign displaying the message “ROAD CONSTRUCTION AHEAD” or “ROAD WORK AHEAD”. Please note that Portable Changeable Message Signs (PCMS), by MUTCD definition, are separate from warning signs and therefore should not be used in determining the limits of a work zone. The display of warning messages or warning information on a PCMS does not make it a warning sign. The work zone ends with an “END ROAD WORK” sign or the last TTC device pertinent for that work activity.”
In Illinois, there is also a criminal component. The dangers of dying or being permanently harmed in a highway road work zone accident are so real here in Illinois that a criminal law that has been passed to try and combat these dangers.
Called “Scott’s Law,” this state statute can result in felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide with up to 14 years imprisonment for deaths involving a motor vehicle crash within an Illinois highway road work construction zone. See, 625 ILCS 5/11-907(c). Also read, “Scott’s Law violation follows deadly crash on I-55 in southwest Bloomington,” written by Jason Howell and published by 25NewsNow on August 6, 2024.
Moreover, Illinois personal injury law may place civil liability on a number of defendants in the aftermath of a serious or fatal work zone crash. For workers and their loved ones, it is vital to understand that there are legal duties of care and safety imposed upon not only construction employers but a variety of third parties who may be involved in some way with the highway road work zone.
This includes legal duties placed upon:
- all drivers going through these work zones;
- those responsible for the care and upkeep of the motor vehicles being operated in these highway construction areas;
- companies involved in the manufacture, distribution, or sale or any product connected with the highway work area, from tires and brakes on the vehicles to heavy equipment and machinery used on the site;
- owners of the project (including cities or counties); and
- premises owners and lessors for all the properties that impact the highway work zone area (such as property owners whose driveways or parking lots abut the road work project at least in part).
For more on these legal liabilities, read: Who Can Be Held Liable for Construction Worker Accidents? Premises Liability and Workplace Accidents: Third Party Injury Claims; and Warning Labels: Danger of Serious Injury or Death in Accidents Involving Products.
What if you’ve been injured on the job while working on an Illinois highway work zone project?
At the time of the accident itself, the injured worker will often have to rely on others to protect their best interests. This includes not only (1) providing immediate medical care and treatment, but (2) calling first responders (911); (3) taking photos and videos of the accident scene; (3) making sure there is police involvement and investigation (resulting in the police report that will be evidence in any future claims); and (4) protecting the victim and others from further injury from traffic or other risks until law enforcement clears the scene.
For any worker who suffers bodily harm while on the job at a highway project, that accident victim and their loved ones also need to know they have a legal right to investigate all potential legal liabilities connected with the event. These investigations may reveal legal claims for justice against a variety of third parties aside from filing workers’ compensation claims to cover immediate needs under the Illinois workers’ compensation system of laws and the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance coverage.
Damages available in these third-party injury claims cover significantly more that the workers’ compensation policies. For details, read: Damages are Different: Worker’s Compensation vs. Third Party Personal Injury Claims.
Construction zone accidents in Chicagoland, in particular, may involve a number of parties who share legal responsibility for what has happened. This is because our interstates and highways have such a high volume of semi-truck, tractor-trailer, big rig, and 18-wheeler traffic rumbling through the work zones. Large trucks are notorious not only for moving through highway work zones at high speeds, but for product failures on the rigs themselves (think blown tires or brake failures). To learn more, read Illinois I-55 Semi Truck Crash: Truck Driver Risks and Construction Zone Dangers.
Illinois’ renowned National Safety Council (NSC) maintains an online map of work zone deaths for each state in the country which gives not only the accident location but if a worker was involved. Importantly, according to the NSC, road work zone deaths not only happen in the construction zone itself, but also in nearby areas including utility work zones and road maintenance zones. And, NSC tallies over half (53%) of all highway work zone workers who die on the job are killed in accidents involving the worker being on foot and being struck by a motor vehicle.
The rule rather than the exception for the foreseeable future is that all Illinois highways, interstates, and significant roadways will be filled with road work zones as various infrastructure projects are being completed. This means that the danger of serious injury or death to workers in these highway work zones must be addressed, and these workers made aware of the risks they are facing. Allen Law Group protects those injured in Chicago, Orland Park, Joliet and surrounding Chicagoland and NWI areas. Please be careful out there!
