CINCINNATI -- Highway technicians and construction workers such as Mitchel Horne rely on two things to keep them alive when they work on the side of the road: safety signs and the attentiveness of drivers.
Those two things don't always work. The American Auto Association reported that work-zone crashes have resulted in 58 deaths since 2015, and Horne said he's seen terrifying collisions between cars and all-too-fragile humans firsthand.
"It's always in the back of your head," he said. "You always think about it. It comes along with the job. You just hope people are paying attention."
According to the Department of Transportation, one police officer, 23 highway workers and five tow-truck operators are struck and killed by the side of the road each month.
Despite Ohio's Move Over Law, which requires drivers to protect public workers and police by putting physical distance between themselves and flashing lights on the side of the road, some people -- including police specialist Jerry Enneking of the Cincinnati Police Department -- have been hit multiple times as they attempted to do their jobs.
Both Horne and Clermont County transportation administrator Steve Riley urged Greater Cincinnatians to take one simple action in order to protect police and public workers: For God's sake, don't text and drive.
"We're out there working, and we've got families to go home to," Horne said. "We want to be as safe as possible and try to get the job done."
