In the span of three days, at least five accidents involving rescue or construction workers happened in our area.
Three Cleveland police officers were hit by a truck on Euclid Avenue. An ODOT vehicle was hit in Brooklyn.
Two Cleveland fire trucks were hit in as many hours.
"I can control when I run into a building on fire, but on the side of the highway, I have no control," said Asst. Cleveland Fire Department Chief Pat Mangan.
A construction vehicle was hit in Stow and a Cleveland Police Sgt. hit on St. Clair Avenue.
Sunday night, Ladder 30 was returning to the station after a fire when a driver hit the truck head on on St. Clair Avenue. That accident came on the heels of Ladder 39 being hit on Interstate 90. That's when a car plowed into the back of the truck.
"We've added more lights, decals and doesn't matter," said Mangan.
In fact, that truck, Ladder 39, has been hit several times.
"Without the truck we would be loosing people's lives, the truck is a barrier," said Mangan. "So without the truck would that be a firefighter or police officer of EMT's life lost? I would argue that would be the case."
The same stretch of I-90 near Warren Road is where a Cleveland police officer and an Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper were hit and killed in separate accidents recently while working.
The Federal Highway Administration estimates a work zone crash happens every 5.4 minutes.
"Ohio Revised Code requires you to either slow down or move over but we're asking you to do both," said Mangan.
Along with that, he said put down the cell phone.
