Drivers urged to slow down after North Carolina DOT worker's death
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The day after a DOT worker was hit and killed on a North Carolina highway, troopers are urging drivers to slow down in work zones. This just happens to be Work Zone Awareness Week.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said 36-year-old William "Grey" Bailey was working in the median of U.S. Highway 70 in Wayne County Monday when a vehicle ran into the median and hit him. Two other members of the work crew just avoided being hit.
Troopers said the driver of the car, 28-year-old Tanisha Dukette, was impaired and she had two children in the car with her. She's been charged with DWI, felony death by vehicle, and child endangerment.
Bailey was an engineering technician who had been with the department since 2010. He is survived by a wife and twin 18-month-old daughters.
"They're people. They're people that get up every day, go to work, they have families, they have kids," said North Carolina Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Jeff Gordon of the men and women who work construction on the roads and highways - making it better for drivers.
The Highway Patrol says Bailey's death highlights the warnings for drivers - during this national Work Zone Awareness Week.
"What we see is a lot of people who are either traveling too fast for the construction zone, which is posted, and then you see a lot of people that are getting cut off, a lot of people rear-ending other people," said Gordon.
Gordon said road construction should come as no surprise to drivers.
"It's posted well in advance with the bright orange signs telling you that the construction zone is coming up," he said.
If you get caught speeding there's a hefty fine, but Gordon said it's about more than money. It's about people like Bailey - whose wife is now without a husband and whose twins are without their father.
"...the last thing that that you want to have on your conscience is basically this: That you took the life of a worker who was basically getting up that morning expecting to go to work and, at the end of the day, there was a drastic life-changing moment," said Gordon.
A GoFundMe site has been set up for Bailey's wife and daughters: http://www.gofundme.com/greybailey
You can also donate any SECU branch by asking for the "Millicent Bailey" fund.
