Leaping off a 21-foot bridge shattered Gerald “Jerry” Buchanan’s ankles and heels, and he’s had seven surgeries – so far.
The fall left the CDOT worker on crutches nine months later and still unable to work.
He says jumping off the Interstate 25 overpass near Pueblo into a gully last Aug 30. may have been the best decision he’s ever made.
“If I had paused long enough to think about what to do, I wouldn’t be here,” he said Tuesday.
A semi truck smashed into construction machinery that day in a work zone along I-25, killing the Colorado Department of Transportation worker next to Buchanan.
To highlight and hopefully prevent such tragedies the state on Tuesday kicked off its annual “Slow for the Cone” campaign to educate the public and crack down on unsafe driving in work zones.
Shortly before the press conference, however, a man died when the pickup truck he was driving smashed into a semi-truck in a construction zone about 13 miles west of Wiggins.
The semi had stopped for a lane closure for paving on Highway 34.
The driver and passenger of the semi weren’t hurt, said Trooper Ryan Sullivan of the Colorado State Patrol.
The name of the pickup driver wasn’t released. Alchol and drugs aren’t suspected, but speed is, Sullivan said.
Officials from the transportation department and state patrol said one of the biggest problems they deal with is driver distraction – talking on cell phones, text-messaging and even reading.
“Think about something besides whatever your next event is,” said Russell George, CDOT executive director. “Give us a break.”
Five department employees died in construction zones in the last four years.
But the majority of work-zone fatalities, like Tuesday’s, are motorists.
In 2004, the most recent year statistics are available, more than 1,900 crashes occurred in work zones resulting in 768 injuries and 14 deaths, including two CDOT employees, according to the department.
Colorado law mandates doubling traffic fines in construction zones.
Buchanan said he hopes the campaign will cause drivers to slow down and think about the consequences of their actions.
The collision that killed his coworker, Charles Mathers, continues to haunt him.
“Is your schedule worth the life of another human being?” he said. “Every person on that road has a family.”
Staff writer Vimal Patel can be reached at 303-954-1638 or vpatel@denverpost.com.
