BRADY TWP — Officials with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation are thankful no one was working last month when a box truck crashed into a contractor’s trailer at the Route 8 bridge replacement project.

“Otherwise there easily could have been a fatality,” said Brian Steffy, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT District 10.

The crash occurred about 7:30 p.m. May 18. The box truck crashed through a barricade of signs warning the road was closed ahead because the bridge over a Slippery Rock Creek tributary was being replaced.

The truck crashed into the contractor’s trailer and a dump truck before going about 75 feet down an embankment, pinning the driver inside the vehicle until he was discovered early the next morning.

Officials said accidents in work zones are not uncommon.

“We’ve had a number of near misses,” Steffy said. “And we’ve had some incidents with injuries.”

PennDOT officials are urging drivers to use caution while driving through work zones, especially as the number of construction projects increases across the state.

“We want everyone to get home safely to their loved ones,” said Deborah Casadei, a spokesman with District 10. “The workers deserve to have the respect of the motoring public.”

A primary safety concern for the state is distracted driving, with cell phones being a major cause of work zone-related accidents.

“Obviously people are not paying attention to driving while in the car,” Steffy said, adding drivers often drift side to side in a lane when not looking at the road. That can become deadly when driving through a narrow work zone.

Paving projects can be particularly dangerous as crews will often be close to traffic.

“Most of the time we’re paving out to the center line,” Steffy said. “The equipment is actually over the center line, which pushes traffic over.”

Steffy said workers often must stand on the center line when paving.

“There’s no escape route when there’s a triaxle truck next to you,” he said. “It’s very hazardous.”

Casadei said using electronic devices while driving is always illegal, but stressed the importance of avoiding distractions in work zones.

“Please just put them away while driving through our work zones,” she said. “Stop what you are doing for a couple minutes and watch where you are driving.”

Cell phones are not the only dangerous devices for drivers.

“GPS devices are becoming more and more hazardous,” Casadei said.

Officials said drivers often will begin to fuss with their GPS units to attempt to find a shortcut around road work or a posted detour.

A common occurrence across the state is drivers ignoring or not seeing signs indicating work ahead or driving past flaggers.

“We’ve seen people drive right past flaggers and cause head-on collisions,” Steffy said.

Bob Skrak, the Butler County maintenance manager of District 10, said PennDOT often has college students work as flaggers during the summer.

It’s an eye-opening experience.

“I think everyone should have to work a week as a flagger before they get their (driver’s) license,” Skrak said.

Jeff Davis, a transportation construction inspector with PennDOT, said working at a work site will make a person respect the dangers.

“It only takes one side mirror scraping across the back of your vest,” he said.

But distracted driving isn’t a new issue caused by advances in technology.

Steffy said he has seen safety issues in work zones throughout his career, including an incident in the 1980s he remembers on Route 422.

“I walked away from my car for a minute,” he said. “When I went back, there was a triaxle on top of it.”

Not all accidents are caused by distractions. Anger and annoyance with delays can lead to problems as well.

Skrak said a Sarver man in May became frustrated that Lardintown Road was closed for paving.

The man started yelling profanities at the PennDOT crew. He sped away from the scene, hitting a PennDOT worker’s arm in the process.

“It could have been so much worse,” Casadei said.

Skrak said the lack of composure was costly.

“He may never get his license back,” he said.

Officials said drivers often get impatient during traffic delays with road work.

“Out in West Kittanning we had a whole bridge out, and a truck driver was arguing that his GPS was telling him he could go that way,” Steffy said.

Davis said safe driving will cut down on accidents and increase traffic flow.

“People would cut backups in half if they would drive to the merge point,” he said, referencing lane reductions, particularly on highways.

Casadei warned that all fines and penalties are increased in work zones, adding that state police are cracking down on infractions.

The increased enforcement is key to increasing worker safety.

Skrak said that is the most important thing, as he has personally seen bad accidents.

“Several years ago a truck driver caused an accident after he fell asleep on (Interstate 79),” he said.

One PennDOT worker suffered a broken shoulder, while another went into shock.

“When they loaded him into the (medical) helicopter — that really gets to you,” Skrak said. “When we say we want everyone to get home safely, that comes from the heart.”