Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Deputies crack down on drivers in U.S. 14 construction zone

A day after a Dane County highway worker was killed on the job, sheriff's deputies set up a "move over" traffic enforcement operation and nabbed numerous drivers for failing to follow the rules in a construction zone.

Three deputies issued 29 citations between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. last Friday in a construction zone on U.S. 14 near Oregon, including tickets for speeding, failure to change lanes while passing a parked emergency vehicle, operating while revoked, and failure to use seat belts.

The enforcement came a day after James Porter, 61, Monona, was killed when he was hit by a pickup truck the afternoon of June 4 in the northbound lanes of U.S. 151 in Sun Prairie.

Porter was on a maintenance crew, driving a truck with an electronic arrow on it. The arrow was flashing to warn motorists to move over to the right lane of the multi-lane highway, so the crew could work in the left lane and shoulder of the northbound lanes.

The arrow truck was preceded by a dump truck and a street sweeper. Authorities said a pickup driven by Alan Borgardt, 59, hit a trailer on the back of Porter's truck, then the median and Porter before hitting the street sweeper.

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