Attorney Warns Construction and Trucking Industries to Act on Work Zone Safety Before Crashes Happen
According to Construction Dive, a Miami-based commercial truck accident attorney is calling on the construction and trucking industries to move beyond seasonal safety reminders and take concrete action on work zone hazards as construction season ramps up across American roads.
Beyond the Checklist
The opinion piece, written by Amanda Demanda, founder of Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers, argues that work zones create a predictable and recurring danger each spring. When that danger is foreseeable, she writes, it stops being a matter of chance and becomes a matter of responsibility.
Demanda points to a consistent pattern in post-crash reviews: speeds that don’t match conditions, following distances that are too short, distraction, and fatigue that may fall within legal limits but still degrades reaction time. On paper, she notes, operations can look compliant while not actually being safe.
Her core argument is that large trucks operate under a higher standard, whether it’s written into regulation or not. Seasonal safety bulletins and reminders, she writes, are a start but not sufficient on their own.
The piece also highlights the physical reality of work zone crashes. A fully loaded tractor-trailer at highway speed requires significant stopping distance even in ideal conditions. Work zones remove shoulders, compress lanes, and eliminate escape routes, leaving drivers fewer options and less time when something goes wrong.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Review your speed and spacing policies now. Demanda’s article notes that post-crash investigations repeatedly find speeds and following distances that don’t match work zone conditions, even when technically within limits.
- Don’t rely on compliance as a defense. Looking compliant on paper and operating safely are not the same thing, according to Demanda. Field supervisors should audit actual driver behavior, not just documentation.
- Treat seasonal risk as a formal trigger. Increased truck traffic, lane shifts, and disappearing shoulders are predictable every spring. Build a formal work zone briefing into the start of construction season rather than relying on periodic bulletins.
- Fatigue management matters even within legal hours. The article specifically flags fatigue that falls within FMCSA hours-of-service limits as a real risk factor. Subcontractors running heavy equipment or driving loaded trucks through active work zones should build rest policies that go beyond those minimums.
