A targeted, high visibility speeding enforcement campaign will begin this Friday and run through the end of July. With the number of statewide highway and bridge construction projects increasing throughout the state, Gov. Jim Justice said Wednesday that work zone traffic will be a targeted priority.
The West Virginia Governor’s Highway Safety Program has teamed up with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the effort.
In 2022, the West Virginia Department of Transportation recorded 800 crashes in work zones across the state that killed eight people and left 276 injured.
Justice said “If you don’t slow down, you’ll get written up.”
“If you’re absolutely out there and are one of those workers,” Justice said. “And you’ve got somebody coming at 85 or 90 miles an hour, and you’re three feet away from me, how fair is that?”
This campaign follows a recent series of West Virginia work zone safety initiatives, one that began with the paving season, and one that targeted a I-64 work zone project in Cabell County.
Justice said to expect that the latest speeding enforcement campaign would extend into August.