After DUI Crash Injures Mobile Road Worker, Safety Advocates Push Drivers to Wake Up
A DUI crash injured a road worker on Airport Boulevard in Mobile, renewing advocates' push for safer driving in Alabama work zones.
MOBILE, Ala. — A predawn crash on Airport Boulevard has renewed calls from Alabama construction and safety advocates for drivers to slow down and pay attention in work zones, after a road worker was struck by an impaired driver, according to Mobile police.
Police say the crash happened around 3:30 a.m. on a Monday at Airport Boulevard and McGregor Avenue, when a driver moved into a closed-off work area and hit both a worker and a piece of equipment. The worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not expected to be life-threatening.
Police identified the driver as 29-year-old Alyson Hillsman and said she was driving impaired; she was charged with DUI and assault. The case is being investigated by Mobile police.
A Statewide Pattern of Work Zone Crashes
Safety advocates say the incident fits a troubling statewide pattern. According to the Alabama Department of Transportation, the state recorded more than 2,000 work zone crashes in 2020, killing 19 people and injuring more than 600 workers and drivers combined.
Skip Powe, a principal at engineering firm Smith Seckman Reid, said crashes and fatalities in work zones keep rising, with more workers killed each year, and argued that additional measures are needed to change driver behavior. His organization is working with groups including the Alabama Associated General Contractors on a public service announcement aimed at distracted driving in work zones.
Roman Clayton of CNH Construction Services urged drivers to pay special attention passing through work zones — a plea rooted in personal loss. He says one of his own employees, Terry Smith, was killed last June while removing signs during nighttime lane closures on I-65, and that the death deeply affected everyone at the company.
How Alabama Is Responding
The state has also raised fees for moving traffic violations committed in work zones as it works to curb work-zone deaths — what Powe calls an effort to really get drivers’ attention.
Safety groups recommend slowing down in posted work zones, eliminating phone distractions, watching for flaggers and equipment entering lanes, and remembering that crews often work at night with limited visibility.
