“Too fast. Too close. Too late”: here is the slogan of a new campaign for the safety of staff working by the roads. The State of Vaud and the intercantonal service for maintenance of the motorway network call motorists to the greatest caution when approaching works.
Awareness messages are disseminated on social networks and near the cantonal and communal roads.
Accident workers testify in videos, available online: “It was August 27, 2010, an ordinary day with our Friday tasks”, recalls Marco, now 46 years old. “We are starting our work. And there, it’s the black curtain. I was between life and death. I lost a lot of blood. They had to stabilize myself on the road,” said the road maintenance employee. He explains that he spent six months rebuilding himself after being struck.
The stories like that of Marco are frequent. Employees engaged near bitumen pay the price for inattention and driving distraction, as well as excessive speed.
“You have the impression that you do not exist”
“There are accidents, but also all almost accidents,” said Laurent Tribolet, chief of the maintenance division in the General Directorate of Mobility and Roads of the Canton of Vaud, in the morning.
“The collaborator gets brooded up by the car. He is not touched, but it is played at 3-4 cm. When a user misses 80 km/h, it is a detestable feeling. You have the impression that you do not exist. Employees have neither bodywork nor airbags. They are as naked, so very vulnerable,” he said.
A busy summer period
There are many summer sites, whether on national, cantonal or municipal roads. The mowing work, among others, is carried out between May and September near the sections in order to ensure better visibility. We also quote changes in coatings. These operating operations take place from night to day.
With, always, men and women dressed in orange combinations. To better protect them, the awareness campaign unfolds in the cantons of Vaud, Geneva and Friborg until August 3.
Sujet radio: Lorence Milasevic
Version web: Antoine Michel
