Today marks the beginning of National Work Zone Safety Awareness week. With recent events on I-695 in Maryland, which resulted in six highway workers dead after a passenger vehicle plowed through a construction zone, it feels worthwhile to remind ourselves of the dangers of becoming complacent in our efforts to make sure we all get home in one piece.
Complacency can affect anyone in any workplace, to varying degrees. Often it’s bred out of a sense of security that masks a deficiency of awareness in your own vulnerability to the adverse outcome. This false sense of security can allow you to let your guard down, lose focus and miss or even dismiss the potential hazards that place you and all in your surroundings at risk.
Fatalities and crashes both have been on the rise in recent years, even including 2020 and that year's greatly reduced traffic for a substantial part of the year.National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’re all guilty of it. While safe, engaged drivers stay firmly in the moment, it’s very hard to stay focused on the task at hand. Complacent drivers fall into “autopilot,” so to speak. Like I said, we have all done it, hour after hour, mile upon mile. Our thoughts wander, like a movie playing in our mind, and we forget the last mile marker we saw.
Worry over bills about to come due, missing Bobby’s ballgame, maybe the wife called because the water heater went out. Whatever it is, and whatever your age or experience, if it takes focus away from the road, it multiplies the risk of a crash or injury.
No one knows you better than you, but be mindful of that daily routine and extended time on task, getting too comfortable behind the wheel, can lead you to fail to see the potential dangers ahead. To stay safe and remain vigilant, you must be able to recognize some of the signs of complacency. Job dissatisfaction, or lack of motivation, might cause you to miss potential hazards or forget steps normally taken to reduce risk. Near misses, frequent slip-ups, changes in attitude, failure to keep appointments on-time, decreased communication: All could be warning signs that your focus is waning.
