Oklahoma DOT is marking the one-year anniversary of Work Zone Safe, its required online training program for teen drivers. The aim is to personalize the experience of navigating emergency sites and work zones for intermediate driver’s license applicants. Oklahoma was the first state to require such training, however, “Wisconsin also now requires a similar course and several other states have started the process to implement Work Zone Safe.” In addition to the online training, Oklahoma’s program involves a traveling, in-person presentation by highway workers that “lets students get an inside look at work zones and lets them hear directly from highway workers on what they should be doing when driving through work zones to make it home safely every time.”
ODOT notes, a total of 72 employees of ODOT and the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority have died in the line of duty, which is a higher casualty rate than that experienced by any other civilian agency of state government.