This weekend, Ohioans statewide will be heading out to celebrate Labor Day Weekend. Whether you enjoy a day trip to your local park or travel across the state to a campground, we hope you and your family are able to get out for a weekend getaway, traveling on the very roads our construction crews created with care. This year, more than ever before, we all deserve a bit of a respite and retreat away from our homes.
It’s true: we’ve all been cooped up at our homes that also act as our schools, offices, and gyms. But even though we are all excited to enjoy the three day weekend away, we don’t need to rush to get there. Let’s all try to keep our roads safe by sticking to the speed limit. When you speed:
- You are more likely to lose control of your vehicle.
- Your seat belt and other safety gear become less effective.
- Your car will be more severely damaged in a crash.
Aside from watching your speed, we hope you travel safely and adhere to all traffic signs. Yes, most construction projects will be put on hold over the holiday weekend for increased safety, but that doesn’t mean you should skip every safety sign’s warning. In fact, with increased traffic, staying alert around traffic cones and adhering to any traffic pattern and speed changes is all the more important.
Of course, if you prefer to avoid heavy traffic, take alternate routes and travel outside of peak driving hours:
- Before taking off, look for other possible routes that don’t require you to take popular highways and major roadways.
- When you do start your journey, it’s best to take off on Thursday and return next Tuesday. With that being said, if you’re only taking a shorter trip for just a portion of the holiday weekend, we recommend leaving early Friday or Saturday morning between five and seven o’clock in the morning and starting your return before noon the next day.
- Technically, leaving late at night will help you avoid massive amounts of traffic, but it won’t necessarily be safer. We discourage nighttime driving, especially over holiday weekends. Not only is night driving more challenging, it also often comes with drivers operating their vehicles while under the influence. This is incredibly important given the increased prevalence of drinking and driving. In fact, 79% of the Labor Day holiday fatalities in 2017 occurred at night.
Our construction crews work tirelessly to create safe roadways. But if drivers ignore basic safety requests, we’re all in for a damper of a weekend. When you travel, remember the hard work that went into creating the roads you’re traveling on. After all, this is the weekend we should be focused on celebrating our construction crews, not ignoring their requests.
Labor Day, according to the U.S. Department of Labor is a day “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.” It’s more than a day off, it’s a historical holiday that honors our American workers and all they do for our communities every day of the year.
Thank you to all of the men and women in our construction industry. You make these getaways to our incredible Ohio communities possible!
