April 11, 2024 • 21 mins
On this episode of Driving Forward, host Andrew Stasiowski sits down with American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA) President and CEO Stacy Tetschner to talk about safety infrastructure ahead of National Work Zone Awareness Week.
ATSSA represents the manufacturers or installers of roadway safety infrastructure like guardrails, cable barriers, signs and pavement markings ,additionally, ATSSA provides critical training on work zone safety Stacy tells Andrew that more than awareness is needed to improve highway safety – it takes investment to make our roads safer. Stacy also tells Andrew how new technology will improve roadway safety.
Subscribe and listen for new Driving Forward episodes released each month. To learn more about the Highway Users, you can visit their website.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(light electronic rock)
- Welcome to "TheDriving Forward Podcast."
We have a great interviewon highway safety today.
In this interview, we are going to discuss
how highway policy can improvehighway safety for everyone.
(00:23):
We touch on important subjects,
such as emerging technologies
and their impact on our safety,
how highway investment can improve safety
on our roads and bridges.
And, we'll touch on thenewest Buy America rule
and what impact it will have
on the safety of roads and bridges.
In light of the tragicbridge collapse in Baltimore,
the safety of our roads forboth the traveling public,
(00:44):
and the workers trying tofix our roads each day,
has been a big subject.
I hope today's interview shed some light
on the important role
the Safety Infrastructure Industry plays
on keeping both the driversand the workers safe each day.
And now, onto our interview.
Joining us today is Stacey Tetschner.
(01:06):
Stacey is the president and CEO
of the American TrafficSafety Services Association,
also known as ATSA.
ATSA is the leading source of information
for the roadway safetyinfrastructure industry.
Stacy, welcome to "TheDriving Forward Podcast,"
- Andrew, thanks for having me.
- Thank you!
Well, you know, like we like to do
on "The Driving Forward Podcast,"
(01:27):
we like to, kind of, level set
and allow you to, kindof, discuss your industry.
So, can you talk about ATSA a little bit?
How big are you?
Who are your members?
What do you guys do?
- So, happy to.
ATSA is the safety infrastructureside of roadway safety.
So, when you think of that, itis guardrail, cable barriers,
pavement markings, signs, signals,
(01:50):
temporary traffic control,
any of the things that,after the road is built,
that make the road safer.
And so, our members are theones who either manufacture
or install that roadwaysafety infrastructure.
And, we have just over athousand company members.
And, in addition to that,
(02:10):
we have a number of state DOTs
that have become members of ours as well,
so that they could have access
to the second side of ourbusiness, which is training.
And so, in addition tothe safety infrastructure,
we know it doesn't do anythingwithout proper training.
So, we also have a trainingside of the association, as well
that does everything from the flaggers
(02:32):
to the traffic control supervisors
that you'll see on a site.
- The flaggers, are those the people that,
you know, what are they doing?
What are the traffic safetycontrol people doing?
- Sure.
So, when you, when you think of a flagger,
if you've come up to a work zone before,
you'll see someone who's standing there
with a "Stop/Slow" paddle, ina number of cases you will.
And, they're really that lastline of defense on safety
(02:54):
before you go into a work zone,
so that they can controlthe flow of traffic
that goes through there.
And, a lot of people say,
"Really? Do you need totrain someone to do that?"
Actually, you do.
Because, if you get trafficcoming from two ways,
and a collision, or peoplecoming through there too fast
without a "slow" sign,
they have an incredibly important job,
(03:16):
even if it is an entry levelposition into the industry.
But, then your supervisor is the one
who is making sure, "is thework zone set up properly?"
What a lot of people don't realize is,
when they take a look at a work zone,
there's gotta be a proper taper.
There has to be proper equipment,
Are the signs placed at the right places
within the work zone,
so that the driving public remains safe?
(03:38):
So, there's a lot that goes into,
what a lot of peopleconsider an annoyance,
which is a work zone, butwithout that proper setup,
we would have chaos.
- Yeah, I think, you know, workzone safety, and, you know,
we all see the orange signs
that you're entering a work zone.
I think everyone recognized that,
but you don't alwaysrealize all the things
(03:59):
that go into making surethat people, you know,
working on the side of a highway,
where people are driving 60,70, 80 miles an hour sometimes,
there's a lot that goes into that.
And, I know one of your bigannual events every year
is Work Zone Safety Week, andI know that's coming up soon.
Can you talk about that a little bit?
- Sure.
We've, kind of, over the last few years,
rebranded that,
(04:19):
so it's called NationalWork Zone Awareness Week,
and this year it's gonna beApril 15th through the 19th.
And, really, the theme ofwhat we're doing this year
is work zones are temporary,
but the actions behind thewheel can last forever.
And, that the big national event for that
is gonna be April the 16th.
And, if you remember a yearago we lost six roadway workers
(04:41):
in a work zone incident.
And so, Baltimore isactually going to be hosting
that national event at a site overlooking
where we lost six roadwayworkers last year,
and unfortunately this yearwe just lost another six
when the Key bridge collapsed as well.
So, Baltimore, and the MarylandDOT really have a big role
(05:02):
in work zone awareness.
- Yeah, the, you know, thebridge collapse is a tragedy,
and I think we're all, youknow, learning more about that.
And, I think it's,
people are learning aboutwhat could have been done,
or what can't be done,
and I don't think we'regonna know that for a while,
and all that.
So, it's glad,
I'm glad that you guys arereally elevating that option,
that idea, and that issue,
(05:22):
because it's important foreveryone on in the highways.
- We are.
And, what we're really seeing from that
is the investigation's gonnayield a lot more information
for us, but this collapse is so unique,
especially to roadway safety.
A lot of questions, because,are are being asked,
around the roadway safety aspect.
And, I'll just say communication is key,
(05:45):
and anything that's going on,
whether you're setting up a work zone,
you're a crew working out there,whatever it happens to be,
and thank goodness for thecommunication from that ship
to the first responders
who were able to shut down the bridge
and get the driving public off the bridge.
But, unfortunately,
not all of our workers wereable to get off there in time.
So, we will be honoring those lives.
(06:07):
One of the things that we do, within ATSA,
is we have a foundation
and we host a roadway worker memorial
that lists all thepeople, whose loved ones
would like to have themplaced on that memorial.
And, granted, not everyone wants to,
but that's a traveling memorial
that goes around to various DOTs,
and events around this country,
(06:27):
because not everyone realizesjust how many people we lose
in work zone accidents every year.
- That's really special.
You know, how many arewe losing each year?
Is that number increasing?Is it decreasing,
or about steady?
- I would say that it's decreasing now.
In 2021, we had our most recent data,
(06:48):
and DOT gathers all that,
and I just don't think theclearinghouse has 2022 data
complete yet, as they audit it.
But, we lost about 956people in work zone.
Now, I will say most of thosewere the traveling public
drivers and pedestrians,but when that happens,
there's obviously someincidences, as well.
(07:09):
And, just to give you perspective,
in '21, we had 106,000 workzone crashes that occurred,
at various levels.
Now, that resulted 956fatalities between drivers,
the pedestrians, passengers, and workers.
But, nonetheless, yeah, we'reon a quest to get to zero.
(07:31):
We do not want to have any roadway deaths,
and especially not in work zones.
- Yeah, that's great.
That's really, you don'trealize that's, just that many,
and that's something we need to, you know,
obviously, I know you guysare really leading the charge
in making that better, and aswe've talked over the years
and others, is how could weinvest in our infrastructure
(07:52):
to improve safety?
What are the thingsthat, you know, we can do
to really reduce that number?
I know there's some thingson the driver's side,
but what are some of thethings that can be done
as we invest?
- One of the things,
and part of it's just an attitude change.
Roadway safety is anafterthought for so many people.
(08:12):
And, when we're talkingabout the driving public,
distracted driving, yeah, alot of those accidents occur
because somebody's picking up a phone
to take a look atsomething, or make a call.
I've even seen people tryto do zoom calls, you know,
in their car, while they're driving,
and, you know, I hopefully candisrupt those when I see 'em
and honk, and it's like, "hey,you gotta put that down,"
(08:34):
and create some additional noise.
But, the real challengewe have in looking forward
is making sure we're investing,
and even within the industry,
a lot of times there'sconversations route,
there's highway safety improvement funds,
call 'em H-SIF funds.
But, then once those get dedicated,
then there's always a debate,"well, can we flex those?
Can we pull some of thoseout to put 'em over here?"
(08:56):
And, every time we do that,
every time we have that H-CIF debate,
it's just putting safety ata lower and lower priority,
which is in complete oppositionto, you know, the DOT,
and NITSA, and everybodyelse's road to zero deaths
that we are signed on and committed to.
We were one of the firstpartners to sign on to that.
(09:18):
But, our actions haveto be consistent with
how we spend our money.
It's no different thanin our personal lives.
If you wanna do something,
if you wanna make a change in something
in your personal life, youdedicate funds and time to it.
You wanna make somethingchange on our roadways,
you gotta dedicate time and funds to it.
- Yeah, I know, youknow, we had Hillary Kane
from the Auto Innovatorson a few months ago,
(09:39):
and we talked about new technologies,
and connected and autonomous vehicles,
and a lot of the safety benefitsthat can come from that.
How do you see those technologies,
and interacting with thework zone safety areas?
I think that's gotta clearlybe a critical portion of that.
- Yeah, it is.
And, I'll say technology'splaying a huge role
(10:01):
in roadway safety, and Idon't think we know everything
on autonomous vehicles yet.
I think we're a few years out on that.
We're still learningwhat electric vehicles,
how they're gonna interact
with roadway safety infrastructure.
But, what we really have tobe aware of, in all of that,
is there's always gonna be human element.
Even if there's an autonomous vehicle,
(10:22):
there's a human elementbehind a portion of that.
And, the human element hasto be committed to the safety
in order for it to flow through,
autonomous, AI, whatever it happens to be.
I'll give you a quick example.
One of the things that'shappening in work zones
is some of the worker vests
will have a little buzzeron them that vibrates.
(10:43):
And so, as a vehicle is approaching,
and they might be approachinga work zone too quickly,
or they might be work too close
to the edge of that work zone,
some of the vehiclesnow have been outfitted
with that technology,
so that a beacon senses what's going on,
it sends a message tothe driver of the car
on their dashboard that says,
"slow down, you'reapproaching a work zone."
(11:06):
And, also it sends amessage to those workers
that are too close to theedge, or closer to the edge,
so that they get avibration to remind them,
"Hey, you need to move away."
So, there's a smart element in that,
but it can only be as smart asthe humans that are using it.
- That's good to see thetechnologies consisting to improve
across every aspect of the highway.
(11:27):
So, that's great.
You know, I think, you touchedon another subject that,
you know, I wanted totalk a little bit about,
and you talked about how,you know, new technologies,
like electric vehicles,
how they're gonna interactwith the road safety equipment.
You know, we had a recent Buy America rule
that was just finalized,
and I wanted to, you know,get your thoughts on the rule,
(11:47):
and on the manufactured products waivers,
and, you know, what are your thoughts
on how this rule impact your industry,
and how, you know, everything's changing,
and how that's gonna impact you guys?
- Sure, yeah.
First of all, I wanna saywe are as biggest supporters
as of anyone, as buying andproducing goods in America.
(12:08):
However, with that in place,we also have to be realistic
because you can't just turn one spigot on
and turn the other spigot off.
And, unfortunately,
that's what's trying to be done right now.
And, there's also some rulesin place with, you know,
with the EPA.
There are certain things
that go into manufacturinghighway products,
and I'll use pavementmarkings for example.
(12:28):
The resin that you make paint with,
the EPA isn't going to allowus to mine that in the US,
at the levels that would need to be done.
And so, those, that raw good,comes from somewhere else
that may get mixed and made in the US,
but because of the resin,of what's in the resin,
it's over 55% from somewhere else.
(12:50):
The second thing, which iskind of a little known fact,
that we're proud of, isthe retro reflectivity
of pavement markings when you go down,
whether it's, you know, paint,
or anything else thermoplastic.
What makes a reflect backare a little glass beads.
So, as that drops down,
little glass speeds drop on top of it,
(13:10):
and that's where you get thereflection from headlights
at night or during the rain,whatever it happens to be.
Well those also, those rawmaterials don't come from the US,
so if we can't producethose goods in the US
at the 55% level, thenwe can't put 'em down.
All of a sudden we arereally cutting off our nose
to spite our face, interms of roadway safety,
(13:32):
just to be in compliance with Buy America.
So, that waiver you were talking about
has been in place for decades.
I'm not saying that it won't go away,
but what we really need to knowis it can't go away tomorrow
just because OMB issues guidance,
and says everything in theIIJA from this point forward.
Well, we can't just turn one spigot off,
(13:52):
and the other spigot on.
There's not enough rawgoods produced in America
for that right now.
So, again, not that wedon't wanna get there,
but we're gonna needthese waivers over time
until we can come up with aplan that works for government,
works for industry, and worksfor the safety on the roads.
- Yeah, it was funny youmentioned the retro reflectivity.
I, you know, I've seensuch a change in that space
(14:15):
over the last, I don't know,10, 15 years it seems like,
that, you know, I rememberdriving home at night in the rain
and you couldn't see the lane markings.
Now, some of that was the roads around DC
needed a little more work, but you know,
there's so much has beengone, has gone into that,
and it really, you know, Ithink has done a great job
of, you know, reducing crashes,
and it's something we needto continue to get out there
(14:37):
onto the roads.
- You're absolutely right, andexactly what you just said,
if we can't put it on the roads
because of the Buy America clause, right,
as it is written right now,then we can't put paint down.
So, what you couldn't see before,
it's just gonna continueto wear away in the future
as whether it's rain, wear,
snowplows actually do a lotof damage to pavement marking.
(14:59):
So, we've just got to be aware of,
"yes, we wanna do what'sright with our heart,
but we gotta take our brains with us."
We just gotta do both of them.
- So, one of the things
we've talked to all of our guests about,
and I think it's probably oneof the most important issues
facing the future of our infrastructure,
is highway trust fund
and the ability to fund future projects.
(15:21):
I think, you know, we've talkedto a number of our guests
about that, but, the certainty of funding,
right now we've been,we're using general funds
to really fix the shortfallin the trust fund.
We have new rules comingout on, for trucks and cars,
on, you know, different technologies
that reduce our ability to raiserevenue from the gas taxes.
(15:41):
What do potential cuts tothe highway safety side mean
if we can't fund projects
because their trust fundjust is running out of money?
How is that gonna impact you guys?
- Well, it's gonna have a huge impact,
because if we truly arecommitted, as I said before,
we're committed to movingtowards zero deaths
on our roadways.
(16:01):
That's gonna take investment,
and the pay for that,
which we, you know, alot of us talk about,
is how do we pay for that?
Well, a lot of thatcomes from the gas tax,
and as we're moving to moreand more electric vehicles,
by the way, electrics not using gas.
So, we've gotta come up with a system,
so that everybody pays their fair share,
and the gas tax hasn't beenraised in many, many years,
(16:23):
and it may be time toreadjust that, as well.
I'm not one for new taxes,
but I don't look at thegas tax as really a tax,
it's probably a misnomer.
It's a user fee,
and we have to have afee that everybody uses
to access these roads.
They're not free, they'renot free to build,
they're not free to make safe.
And, we have to remember,when these roads were built,
(16:46):
it was for a differentpurpose with vehicles
that weigh different, lookdifferent, behave differently.
And, we have to evolve ourroads to meet the technology
of our vehicles and theevolution of the drive.
- No, that's a great point.
I think there's a lot there that,
you know, the IAJA was really,
we talk about it as a oncein a lifetime opportunity.
(17:08):
I, you know, I think weneed to change that thought.
We need to look at that as,
this is how all of our bills need to be.
We need to continue to invest.
We can't go back to the,you know, smaller bills
'cause our needs are so high,
and as we are getting newtechnologies onto the roads,
you know, we're gonnaneed to have enough funds
to really invest to accommodatethose new technologies.
(17:30):
So, what do you think about that?
- You're exactly right.
I'm gonna use an exampleof a new technology
in electric vehicles, andit's a hot topic right now.
We're just at the pointwhere we're testing
"what does a collisionof an electric vehicle
on today's roadway do to theroadway safety infrastructure?"
And, the vehicle has adifferent center of gravity,
(17:51):
it's heavier than it used tobe, and it travels differently.
And, in reality,
a lot of them don't havean engine in the front
because they have everything underneath.
So, as they collide withsome of our infrastructure,
we're finding that it behaves differently,
and it may not be as safe as it was
with a gas powered vehicle.
So, we can't have these unfunded mandates,
(18:13):
of "move to electric vehicles,"
but not fund improving andupdating our roadway technology,
which is the responsibilitythat comes to the government.
- Well let's move on to, you know,
our final question thatwe've asked everyone.
And, I want, curious whatyour answer's gonna be.
So, if you could wave your magic wand,
if you could do one thing toreally improve roadway safety
(18:36):
in America, what would it be?
- We are all about movingtowards zero deaths
on the roadways.
And so, it would be aboutremoving the distractions
from the roadways.
I'm gonna go ahead and use an example,
I'm gonna go back to NationalWork zone Awareness Week
because that's where we seewe can make a difference.
And, if we can wave our magic wand,
it's how do you become moreaware of roads being made safer,
(19:00):
being viewed as an investment,
and not an intrusion in your privacy?
I would say let's start bymaking our work sound safer.
Because, if you have that first step,
it'll make more people moreaware of how they're driving
and what they're doing on the roadways,
so that everybody remains safe,
everybody comes homeat the end of the day.
There's nothing worse, Andrew,than one of our contractors
(19:21):
having to go to a family tolet them know that their mom,
or dad, or sister, or brother,whatever it happens to be,
is not coming home becausethere was a distracted driver
that went into a work zoneand took their life that day
while they were just workingto make the roadway safer.
With that, I'm just gonnaput a shameless plug in,
one more time.
April 15th Works on Safety Training Day.
(19:42):
April 16th is our nationalkickoff event in Baltimore,
but they're events all over the country.
April 17th, if you do nothing else,
make that your Go Orange Day.
You'll find companieslike M&Ms, and Sunny D,
and a lot of other companies
who are really focusingon their orange products
to help us support Go Orange Day,
so that we can remember thosewho have lost their lives
(20:06):
in work zone.
And then, the 18thwatch your social media,
we have a social media storm that day,
that hashtag is NWZAW.
- Well that, it's great to hear.
We will obviously support you guys,
as we get the orange out as well,
and I appreciate that,
and I really appreciate yourthoughts on what we could do
and you know, distracteddriving is a huge problem
(20:28):
in this country.
It's a huge issue facingthe highway users industry,
as well.
I mean, I think the number of deaths,
we're not seeing that decrease,
we're really seeing thatincrease on the roads,
and a lot of that is becauseof distracted driving.
So, I appreciate your thoughts on that,
and with that Stacy Tetschner,
I appreciate you coming on today.
This was a great interview,
and I look to have youon again sometime soon.
(20:49):
- Thank you.
(light electronic rock)
- Alright, I'd like to thank Stacy,
once again for coming on "TheDriving Forward Podcast."
I thought it was a great interview
on a really important subject.
I hope everyone learned a lot.
Please continue to listen,
and subscribe to "TheDriving Forward Podcast,"
wherever you get your podcasts.
(21:19):
(rhythmic music notes)- Last topic.
(light electronic rock)
- Welcome to "TheDriving Forward Podcast."
We have a great interviewon highway safety today.
In this interview, we are going to discuss
how highway policy can improvehighway safety for everyone.
(00:23):
We touch on important subjects,
such as emerging technologies
and their impact on our safety,
how highway investment can improve safety
on our roads and bridges.
And, we'll touch on thenewest Buy America rule
and what impact it will have
on the safety of roads and bridges.
In light of the tragicbridge collapse in Baltimore,
the safety of our roads forboth the traveling public,
(00:44):
and the workers trying tofix our roads each day,
has been a big subject.
I hope today's interview shed some light
on the important role
the Safety Infrastructure Industry plays
on keeping both the driversand the workers safe each day.
And now, onto our interview.
Joining us today is Stacey Tetschner.
(01:06):
Stacey is the president and CEO
of the American TrafficSafety Services Association,
also known as ATSA.
ATSA is the leading source of information
for the roadway safetyinfrastructure industry.
Stacy, welcome to "TheDriving Forward Podcast,"
- Andrew, thanks for having me.
- Thank you!
Well, you know, like we like to do
on "The Driving Forward Podcast,"
(01:27):
we like to, kind of, level set
and allow you to, kindof, discuss your industry.
So, can you talk about ATSA a little bit?
How big are you?
Who are your members?
What do you guys do?
- So, happy to.
ATSA is the safety infrastructureside of roadway safety.
So, when you think of that, itis guardrail, cable barriers,
pavement markings, signs, signals,
(01:50):
temporary traffic control,
any of the things that,after the road is built,
that make the road safer.
And so, our members are theones who either manufacture
or install that roadwaysafety infrastructure.
And, we have just over athousand company members.
And, in addition to that,
(02:10):
we have a number of state DOTs
that have become members of ours as well,
so that they could have access
to the second side of ourbusiness, which is training.
And so, in addition tothe safety infrastructure,
we know it doesn't do anythingwithout proper training.
So, we also have a trainingside of the association, as well
that does everything from the flaggers
(02:32):
to the traffic control supervisors
that you'll see on a site.
- The flaggers, are those the people that,
you know, what are they doing?
What are the traffic safetycontrol people doing?
- Sure.
So, when you, when you think of a flagger,
if you've come up to a work zone before,
you'll see someone who's standing there
with a "Stop/Slow" paddle, ina number of cases you will.
And, they're really that lastline of defense on safety
(02:54):
before you go into a work zone,
so that they can controlthe flow of traffic
that goes through there.
And, a lot of people say,
"Really? Do you need totrain someone to do that?"
Actually, you do.
Because, if you get trafficcoming from two ways,
and a collision, or peoplecoming through there too fast
without a "slow" sign,
they have an incredibly important job,
(03:16):
even if it is an entry levelposition into the industry.
But, then your supervisor is the one
who is making sure, "is thework zone set up properly?"
What a lot of people don't realize is,
when they take a look at a work zone,
there's gotta be a proper taper.
There has to be proper equipment,
Are the signs placed at the right places
within the work zone,
so that the driving public remains safe?
(03:38):
So, there's a lot that goes into,
what a lot of peopleconsider an annoyance,
which is a work zone, butwithout that proper setup,
we would have chaos.
- Yeah, I think, you know, workzone safety, and, you know,
we all see the orange signs
that you're entering a work zone.
I think everyone recognized that,
but you don't alwaysrealize all the things
(03:59):
that go into making surethat people, you know,
working on the side of a highway,
where people are driving 60,70, 80 miles an hour sometimes,
there's a lot that goes into that.
And, I know one of your bigannual events every year
is Work Zone Safety Week, andI know that's coming up soon.
Can you talk about that a little bit?
- Sure.
We've, kind of, over the last few years,
rebranded that,
(04:19):
so it's called NationalWork Zone Awareness Week,
and this year it's gonna beApril 15th through the 19th.
And, really, the theme ofwhat we're doing this year
is work zones are temporary,
but the actions behind thewheel can last forever.
And, that the big national event for that
is gonna be April the 16th.
And, if you remember a yearago we lost six roadway workers
(04:41):
in a work zone incident.
And so, Baltimore isactually going to be hosting
that national event at a site overlooking
where we lost six roadwayworkers last year,
and unfortunately this yearwe just lost another six
when the Key bridge collapsed as well.
So, Baltimore, and the MarylandDOT really have a big role
(05:02):
in work zone awareness.
- Yeah, the, you know, thebridge collapse is a tragedy,
and I think we're all, youknow, learning more about that.
And, I think it's,
people are learning aboutwhat could have been done,
or what can't be done,
and I don't think we'regonna know that for a while,
and all that.
So, it's glad,
I'm glad that you guys arereally elevating that option,
that idea, and that issue,
(05:22):
because it's important foreveryone on in the highways.
- We are.
And, what we're really seeing from that
is the investigation's gonnayield a lot more information
for us, but this collapse is so unique,
especially to roadway safety.
A lot of questions, because,are are being asked,
around the roadway safety aspect.
And, I'll just say communication is key,
(05:45):
and anything that's going on,
whether you're setting up a work zone,
you're a crew working out there,whatever it happens to be,
and thank goodness for thecommunication from that ship
to the first responders
who were able to shut down the bridge
and get the driving public off the bridge.
But, unfortunately,
not all of our workers wereable to get off there in time.
So, we will be honoring those lives.
(06:07):
One of the things that we do, within ATSA,
is we have a foundation
and we host a roadway worker memorial
that lists all thepeople, whose loved ones
would like to have themplaced on that memorial.
And, granted, not everyone wants to,
but that's a traveling memorial
that goes around to various DOTs,
and events around this country,
(06:27):
because not everyone realizesjust how many people we lose
in work zone accidents every year.
- That's really special.
You know, how many arewe losing each year?
Is that number increasing?Is it decreasing,
or about steady?
- I would say that it's decreasing now.
In 2021, we had our most recent data,
(06:48):
and DOT gathers all that,
and I just don't think theclearinghouse has 2022 data
complete yet, as they audit it.
But, we lost about 956people in work zone.
Now, I will say most of thosewere the traveling public
drivers and pedestrians,but when that happens,
there's obviously someincidences, as well.
(07:09):
And, just to give you perspective,
in '21, we had 106,000 workzone crashes that occurred,
at various levels.
Now, that resulted 956fatalities between drivers,
the pedestrians, passengers, and workers.
But, nonetheless, yeah, we'reon a quest to get to zero.
(07:31):
We do not want to have any roadway deaths,
and especially not in work zones.
- Yeah, that's great.
That's really, you don'trealize that's, just that many,
and that's something we need to, you know,
obviously, I know you guysare really leading the charge
in making that better, and aswe've talked over the years
and others, is how could weinvest in our infrastructure
(07:52):
to improve safety?
What are the thingsthat, you know, we can do
to really reduce that number?
I know there's some thingson the driver's side,
but what are some of thethings that can be done
as we invest?
- One of the things,
and part of it's just an attitude change.
Roadway safety is anafterthought for so many people.
(08:12):
And, when we're talkingabout the driving public,
distracted driving, yeah, alot of those accidents occur
because somebody's picking up a phone
to take a look atsomething, or make a call.
I've even seen people tryto do zoom calls, you know,
in their car, while they're driving,
and, you know, I hopefully candisrupt those when I see 'em
and honk, and it's like, "hey,you gotta put that down,"
(08:34):
and create some additional noise.
But, the real challengewe have in looking forward
is making sure we're investing,
and even within the industry,
a lot of times there'sconversations route,
there's highway safety improvement funds,
call 'em H-SIF funds.
But, then once those get dedicated,
then there's always a debate,"well, can we flex those?
Can we pull some of thoseout to put 'em over here?"
(08:56):
And, every time we do that,
every time we have that H-CIF debate,
it's just putting safety ata lower and lower priority,
which is in complete oppositionto, you know, the DOT,
and NITSA, and everybodyelse's road to zero deaths
that we are signed on and committed to.
We were one of the firstpartners to sign on to that.
(09:18):
But, our actions haveto be consistent with
how we spend our money.
It's no different thanin our personal lives.
If you wanna do something,
if you wanna make a change in something
in your personal life, youdedicate funds and time to it.
You wanna make somethingchange on our roadways,
you gotta dedicate time and funds to it.
- Yeah, I know, youknow, we had Hillary Kane
from the Auto Innovatorson a few months ago,
(09:39):
and we talked about new technologies,
and connected and autonomous vehicles,
and a lot of the safety benefitsthat can come from that.
How do you see those technologies,
and interacting with thework zone safety areas?
I think that's gotta clearlybe a critical portion of that.
- Yeah, it is.
And, I'll say technology'splaying a huge role
(10:01):
in roadway safety, and Idon't think we know everything
on autonomous vehicles yet.
I think we're a few years out on that.
We're still learningwhat electric vehicles,
how they're gonna interact
with roadway safety infrastructure.
But, what we really have tobe aware of, in all of that,
is there's always gonna be human element.
Even if there's an autonomous vehicle,
(10:22):
there's a human elementbehind a portion of that.
And, the human element hasto be committed to the safety
in order for it to flow through,
autonomous, AI, whatever it happens to be.
I'll give you a quick example.
One of the things that'shappening in work zones
is some of the worker vests
will have a little buzzeron them that vibrates.
(10:43):
And so, as a vehicle is approaching,
and they might be approachinga work zone too quickly,
or they might be work too close
to the edge of that work zone,
some of the vehiclesnow have been outfitted
with that technology,
so that a beacon senses what's going on,
it sends a message tothe driver of the car
on their dashboard that says,
"slow down, you'reapproaching a work zone."
(11:06):
And, also it sends amessage to those workers
that are too close to theedge, or closer to the edge,
so that they get avibration to remind them,
"Hey, you need to move away."
So, there's a smart element in that,
but it can only be as smart asthe humans that are using it.
- That's good to see thetechnologies consisting to improve
across every aspect of the highway.
(11:27):
So, that's great.
You know, I think, you touchedon another subject that,
you know, I wanted totalk a little bit about,
and you talked about how,you know, new technologies,
like electric vehicles,
how they're gonna interactwith the road safety equipment.
You know, we had a recent Buy America rule
that was just finalized,
and I wanted to, you know,get your thoughts on the rule,
(11:47):
and on the manufactured products waivers,
and, you know, what are your thoughts
on how this rule impact your industry,
and how, you know, everything's changing,
and how that's gonna impact you guys?
- Sure, yeah.
First of all, I wanna saywe are as biggest supporters
as of anyone, as buying andproducing goods in America.
(12:08):
However, with that in place,we also have to be realistic
because you can't just turn one spigot on
and turn the other spigot off.
And, unfortunately,
that's what's trying to be done right now.
And, there's also some rulesin place with, you know,
with the EPA.
There are certain things
that go into manufacturinghighway products,
and I'll use pavementmarkings for example.
(12:28):
The resin that you make paint with,
the EPA isn't going to allowus to mine that in the US,
at the levels that would need to be done.
And so, those, that raw good,comes from somewhere else
that may get mixed and made in the US,
but because of the resin,of what's in the resin,
it's over 55% from somewhere else.
(12:50):
The second thing, which iskind of a little known fact,
that we're proud of, isthe retro reflectivity
of pavement markings when you go down,
whether it's, you know, paint,
or anything else thermoplastic.
What makes a reflect backare a little glass beads.
So, as that drops down,
little glass speeds drop on top of it,
(13:10):
and that's where you get thereflection from headlights
at night or during the rain,whatever it happens to be.
Well those also, those rawmaterials don't come from the US,
so if we can't producethose goods in the US
at the 55% level, thenwe can't put 'em down.
All of a sudden we arereally cutting off our nose
to spite our face, interms of roadway safety,
(13:32):
just to be in compliance with Buy America.
So, that waiver you were talking about
has been in place for decades.
I'm not saying that it won't go away,
but what we really need to knowis it can't go away tomorrow
just because OMB issues guidance,
and says everything in theIIJA from this point forward.
Well, we can't just turn one spigot off,
(13:52):
and the other spigot on.
There's not enough rawgoods produced in America
for that right now.
So, again, not that wedon't wanna get there,
but we're gonna needthese waivers over time
until we can come up with aplan that works for government,
works for industry, and worksfor the safety on the roads.
- Yeah, it was funny youmentioned the retro reflectivity.
I, you know, I've seensuch a change in that space
(14:15):
over the last, I don't know,10, 15 years it seems like,
that, you know, I rememberdriving home at night in the rain
and you couldn't see the lane markings.
Now, some of that was the roads around DC
needed a little more work, but you know,
there's so much has beengone, has gone into that,
and it really, you know, Ithink has done a great job
of, you know, reducing crashes,
and it's something we needto continue to get out there
(14:37):
onto the roads.
- You're absolutely right, andexactly what you just said,
if we can't put it on the roads
because of the Buy America clause, right,
as it is written right now,then we can't put paint down.
So, what you couldn't see before,
it's just gonna continueto wear away in the future
as whether it's rain, wear,
snowplows actually do a lotof damage to pavement marking.
(14:59):
So, we've just got to be aware of,
"yes, we wanna do what'sright with our heart,
but we gotta take our brains with us."
We just gotta do both of them.
- So, one of the things
we've talked to all of our guests about,
and I think it's probably oneof the most important issues
facing the future of our infrastructure,
is highway trust fund
and the ability to fund future projects.
(15:21):
I think, you know, we've talkedto a number of our guests
about that, but, the certainty of funding,
right now we've been,we're using general funds
to really fix the shortfallin the trust fund.
We have new rules comingout on, for trucks and cars,
on, you know, different technologies
that reduce our ability to raiserevenue from the gas taxes.
(15:41):
What do potential cuts tothe highway safety side mean
if we can't fund projects
because their trust fundjust is running out of money?
How is that gonna impact you guys?
- Well, it's gonna have a huge impact,
because if we truly arecommitted, as I said before,
we're committed to movingtowards zero deaths
on our roadways.
(16:01):
That's gonna take investment,
and the pay for that,
which we, you know, alot of us talk about,
is how do we pay for that?
Well, a lot of thatcomes from the gas tax,
and as we're moving to moreand more electric vehicles,
by the way, electrics not using gas.
So, we've gotta come up with a system,
so that everybody pays their fair share,
and the gas tax hasn't beenraised in many, many years,
(16:23):
and it may be time toreadjust that, as well.
I'm not one for new taxes,
but I don't look at thegas tax as really a tax,
it's probably a misnomer.
It's a user fee,
and we have to have afee that everybody uses
to access these roads.
They're not free, they'renot free to build,
they're not free to make safe.
And, we have to remember,when these roads were built,
(16:46):
it was for a differentpurpose with vehicles
that weigh different, lookdifferent, behave differently.
And, we have to evolve ourroads to meet the technology
of our vehicles and theevolution of the drive.
- No, that's a great point.
I think there's a lot there that,
you know, the IAJA was really,
we talk about it as a oncein a lifetime opportunity.
(17:08):
I, you know, I think weneed to change that thought.
We need to look at that as,
this is how all of our bills need to be.
We need to continue to invest.
We can't go back to the,you know, smaller bills
'cause our needs are so high,
and as we are getting newtechnologies onto the roads,
you know, we're gonnaneed to have enough funds
to really invest to accommodatethose new technologies.
(17:30):
So, what do you think about that?
- You're exactly right.
I'm gonna use an exampleof a new technology
in electric vehicles, andit's a hot topic right now.
We're just at the pointwhere we're testing
"what does a collisionof an electric vehicle
on today's roadway do to theroadway safety infrastructure?"
And, the vehicle has adifferent center of gravity,
(17:51):
it's heavier than it used tobe, and it travels differently.
And, in reality,
a lot of them don't havean engine in the front
because they have everything underneath.
So, as they collide withsome of our infrastructure,
we're finding that it behaves differently,
and it may not be as safe as it was
with a gas powered vehicle.
So, we can't have these unfunded mandates,
(18:13):
of "move to electric vehicles,"
but not fund improving andupdating our roadway technology,
which is the responsibilitythat comes to the government.
- Well let's move on to, you know,
our final question thatwe've asked everyone.
And, I want, curious whatyour answer's gonna be.
So, if you could wave your magic wand,
if you could do one thing toreally improve roadway safety
(18:36):
in America, what would it be?
- We are all about movingtowards zero deaths
on the roadways.
And so, it would be aboutremoving the distractions
from the roadways.
I'm gonna go ahead and use an example,
I'm gonna go back to NationalWork zone Awareness Week
because that's where we seewe can make a difference.
And, if we can wave our magic wand,
it's how do you become moreaware of roads being made safer,
(19:00):
being viewed as an investment,
and not an intrusion in your privacy?
I would say let's start bymaking our work sound safer.
Because, if you have that first step,
it'll make more people moreaware of how they're driving
and what they're doing on the roadways,
so that everybody remains safe,
everybody comes homeat the end of the day.
There's nothing worse, Andrew,than one of our contractors
(19:21):
having to go to a family tolet them know that their mom,
or dad, or sister, or brother,whatever it happens to be,
is not coming home becausethere was a distracted driver
that went into a work zoneand took their life that day
while they were just workingto make the roadway safer.
With that, I'm just gonnaput a shameless plug in,
one more time.
April 15th Works on Safety Training Day.
(19:42):
April 16th is our nationalkickoff event in Baltimore,
but they're events all over the country.
April 17th, if you do nothing else,
make that your Go Orange Day.
You'll find companieslike M&Ms, and Sunny D,
and a lot of other companies
who are really focusingon their orange products
to help us support Go Orange Day,
so that we can remember thosewho have lost their lives
(20:06):
in work zone.
And then, the 18thwatch your social media,
we have a social media storm that day,
that hashtag is NWZAW.
- Well that, it's great to hear.
We will obviously support you guys,
as we get the orange out as well,
and I appreciate that,
and I really appreciate yourthoughts on what we could do
and you know, distracteddriving is a huge problem
(20:28):
in this country.
It's a huge issue facingthe highway users industry,
as well.
I mean, I think the number of deaths,
we're not seeing that decrease,
we're really seeing thatincrease on the roads,
and a lot of that is becauseof distracted driving.
So, I appreciate your thoughts on that,
and with that Stacy Tetschner,
I appreciate you coming on today.
This was a great interview,
and I look to have youon again sometime soon.
(20:49):
- Thank you.
(light electronic rock)
- Alright, I'd like to thank Stacy,
once again for coming on "TheDriving Forward Podcast."
I thought it was a great interview
on a really important subject.
I hope everyone learned a lot.
Please continue to listen,
and subscribe to "TheDriving Forward Podcast,"
wherever you get your podcasts.
(21:19):
(rhythmic music notes)- Last topic.
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