04/08/2008 GAAS:165:08 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Print Version | Email / Share
Governor Schwarzenegger Issues Proclamation for Work Zone Awareness Week
Gov. Schwarzenegger issued the following proclamation declaring the week of April 7-11, 2008, as "Work Zone Awareness Week" in California:
PROCLAMATION
The California
Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is home to some of the best workers in
the world, and their ability to build, repair and maintain thousands of miles of
streets, highways and related infrastructure is remarkable. Doing this work,
however, can pose serious risks, and hundreds of workers are killed in work
zones around the country each year.
Maintenance workers,
construction contractors, contracting agencies and others face the vitally
important challenge of ensuring a safe workplace while enabling the movement of
the public through the work zones. Highway and street construction present an
especially complex situation in which workers may face many dangers under
conditions that change without warning. In fact, each year in the United
States, more highway workers are killed than
police and firefighters combined.
California is a
leader in protecting our roadside workers, and our state's crash, injury and
fatality numbers in work zones are falling much quicker than the national
average. In 1999, Caltrans launched the Slow for the Cone Zone public awareness
campaign to help combat this problem, and since then, highway work zone
accidents have decreased each year.
This year,
California is
proud to host the annual National Work Zone Awareness Week Kick-Off event at the
State Capitol. I am excited that transportation and highway safety officials
from around the country will come together to share ideas on how to improve
roadside safety and protect the workers who contribute so much to our nation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, Governor of the
State of California, do hereby proclaim April
7-11, 2008, as "Work Zone Awareness Week in California.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed
this 8th day of April 2008.
ARNOLD
SCHWARZENEGGER
Governor of
California
ATTEST:
DEBRA
BOWEN
Secretary of
State
