Officials vow crackdown on speeding drivers in highway construction zones

By Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Construction zones across the state that pose a particular danger to work crews and state troopers will be the focus of a new state initiative aimed at getting drivers to reduce their speed and exercise caution in and around those areas.

“To put it bluntly, the side of the highway is a dangerous place,” said Stephen Matthews, deputy superintendent of the State Police. “It is a dangerous place if you’re working on a construction road crew, it is a dangerous place if you’re operating a piece of heavy equipment, and it’s a dangerous place if you are a state trooper or a local police officer.”

The state Department of Transportation is compiling a list of current and upcoming construction zones that pose or may pose a higher than average risk of accidents. A main component of the initiative will be the placement of troopers at the sites to enforce speed limits.

That trooper will be in addition to any detail trooper at the site. Another part of the initiative is a public education campaign.

The announcement of the initiative was made earlier today at a press conference at the State Police headquarters in Framingham.

This initiative comes in response to a recent spate of accidents involving state troopers on detail or construction workers. Governor Deval Patrick also attended the event and said that in 2010 there were at least 40 incidents of cruisers or troopers being struck by motorists at construction sites, and 27 such incidents so far this year.

“Bear in mind that there are people doing their jobs on behalf of the public, and as busy as people are and as in great a hurry as they are, take a minute and slow down and move to the side,” Patrick said.