No charges will be filed in an accident that sent a road construction worker, who was working on U.S. Highway 71 in Carthage, to the hospital on Monday.
Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Mike Watson said the accident was still under investigation on Wednesday, but the trooper investigating the incident told him he didn’t feel there were any actions on the part of the driver that warranted seeking charges from the prosecutor.
“I know the worker went back to work the next day,” Watson said. “There’s a section in the statute called probable contributing circumstances that allows us to take into consideration mitigating circumstances and there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of anything that is criminally prosecutable.”
The accident happened around 4:30 p.m. on Monday when a recreational vehicle apparently clipped a worker with Journagan Construction while he was working with a crew resurfacing U.S. 71 near the south Carthage exits.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said Ricky L. Williams, 46, Bucyrus, Mo., was taken to Freeman West Hospital in Joplin after the accident on U.S. 71 just south of the Fir Road exit on the southbound side of the highway.
The patrol characterized Williams’ injuries as moderate. The patrol report said Williams was working in the roadway when a motor home, driven by Eugene R. Hoton, 67, Kansas City, traveling south, struck him.
The recreational vehicle traveled a short distance south of the accident scene before coming to a stop.
Watson said the accident does illustrate why motorists should exercise extreme caution while driving through work zones.
The accident happened one week before the Missouri Department of Transportation kicks off Work Zone Awareness Week, April 19-23, to call drivers' attention to the dangers of inattentive driving in construction zones and the stiff penalties for drivers who cause an accident in a zone.
“We as drivers should view the requirements by law such as reducing our speed, not passing within the work zone and obeying traffic control devices as minimum standards and actions such as reducing our speed even further are not only prudent, but well within the law,” Watson said. “The continued safety is a cooperative effort between those doing the work and drivers who pass through the construction areas. Missouri law requires drivers to operate their vehicle with the highest degree of care as not to endanger person or property.
“In addition, a law concerning the endangerment of a highway worker by motorists went into effect in 2009 to address those who may injure, kill, or place in peril the lives of workers in the work zones. The Patrol makes enforcement in the work zones a priority and attempts to be as visible as possible when the workers are present.”
