(WHTM) — Highway construction season is here and PennDOT, State Police, and the Turnpike Commission are urging drivers to slow down and limit distractions when driving through work zones.

The week of April 16 is National Work Zone Awareness Week, which is a week designated to encourage safe driving through work zones. Since 1970, PennDOT has lost 90 workers in the line of duty. The Pennsylvania Turnpike has lost 45 since 1940.

According to preliminary PennDOT for 2022, there were 1,293 work zone crashes, which resulted in 14 deaths.

Workers are concerned about how to fix this issue.

“People don’t understand we are there to do a job, so they need to slow down and take care of us as much as we are trying to take care of them,” said Marlin Knull, a Work Zone Specialist for PennDOT.

Keep an eye out for work zone signs and speed limit changes to make sure you keep those workers safe.