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It is understandable that pavement maintenance on highways poses much different – and in most cases greater – risks than does work on parking lots, driveways and even secondary roadways.

The purpose of this writing is to address some of the more common highway maintenance hazards and to offer some practical tips that will hopefully help to reduce the chance of having an accident and therefore keep your insurance premiums from increasing.

After all, a large part of premium determination is predicated on prior loss history. This holds true for all lines of insurance. Insurance companies that write policies for businesses engaged in highway operations – whether it’s sweeping, cracksealing, or paving – require that there be a formal set of safety guidelines in place for this type of work.

One of the main on-highway factors to be aware of is speed, primarily the speed of the traffic moving around your highway work zone. It should come as no surprise that research shows there is a direct relationship between the size, speed, and distance that an object travels at the point of impact and the resulting property damage and/or injury sustained as a result of this sometimes-deadly combination.

In addition other factors, such as the inability to control the driving habits of passing motorists, are probably the most frustrating. Factors such as driver fatigue, operating under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs, speeding, limited visibility during night operations or bad weather, volumes of large trucks and trailers, all are compounding issues.