by Tommy Johnson
A highway worker was hit and killed by two vehicles south of Raleigh, NC Friday. Kevarus N. Bowens, 45, of Lumberton, NC was removing a lane closure warning sign and was killed when crossing from the median to his work truck. Bowen was wearing high visibility gear and his truck had on flashing warning lights when he was hit by two separate drivers. On the same day in another state, a worker with the same company was hit and killed while in his vehicle.
Bowen’s death as well as that of an unnamed worker come only a week after an arrest was made of a hit and run driver who killed a traffic controller in New Mexico. The driver claims to have fallen asleep before entering the work zone and killing the worker.
The US has the highest fatalities among road workers of any industrialized country: over 890 deaths and 37,000 injuries were reported in 2022 alone according to the Work Zone Safety Clearinghouse.
Traffic control workers are underpaid for the hazards they encounter at work with the average worker being paid $14.18 per hour in the US. The low pay is the leading cause of mistakes on site because it serves only to compel workers to take on more hours, often under pressure from the boss, pushing themselves past fatigue. When most accidents happen, the low pay and excessive hours worked—day and night within a single week—are not taken into consideration, and traffic control companies pass the blame onto individual workers rather than seeking to understand the culture that low wages have created. It is not uncommon to find traffic controllers working 80 hours in a single week just to afford a meager savings against a paycheck to paycheck existence.
A former traffic control worker in contact with The Worker, under the condition of anonymity, said that most workplace injuries are associated with overwork and the injured workers are typically fired on technicalities as a result of being injured. In some cases, workers are not even assigned the legally required Personal Protective Equipment and sent into the field without proper training, relying on damaged and defective equipment. Failure to replace such equipment is based on the corporations seeking to protect their high profit margins.
Traffic control companies have a large profit margin of about 90%. This refers to the revenue left after deducting all expenses associated with the company. The largest traffic control monopoly in the US makes approximately more than $300,000 off a single employee in a year. Low overhead costs, low pay and a high profit margin make a few very rich, while the vast majority of workers risk their lives and are overworked needlessly. In lean times the companies tend to give out too few hours which thrust their workforce into poverty, with hours ranging from 14 a week to 80. Doug Nielson, the head of one such monopoly, brings home about $350 million a year, with no risk to his own life and a great risk to his workers lives.
