Monk's life-altering experience underlines importance of work-zone safety

Troy Monk believes in safety. He believes drivers must pay attention, particularly in highway construction zones. It is a belief forged by a frightening late-August day that nearly cost him his life.

Monk's story also coincides with National Work Zone Awareness Week, March 23-27.

There have been more than 2,000 crashes in work zones in the last five years (2009-2013), accounting for 11 fatalities. A total of five highway workers have been injured as a result. Nearly two decades ago, Troy Monk was one of those statistics.

Seminal Day
Monk (pictured left) was working on a project alongside traffic on U.S. 26 on Aug. 22, 1996.

"We were building a turnout between the Clark Hill rest area and the Hiese turnoff, and I was running the road grader. I began helping one of my co-workers learn to run the grader. After he got comfortable with the operation, I took over one end of the flagging operation," Monk recalled.

On that day, he had seen several cars driving dangerously. "People get mesmerized out there," he said. "They don't pay attention."

About an hour later, it happened.

1986 Saab driving at 73 mph
Monk, then a 31-year-old maintenance driver for ITD's District 6 office in eastern Idaho, had just stopped a car on the highway to allow equipment to move in and out at the turnaround for maintenance trucks and equipment between Ririe and Swan Valley.

Just as he stepped off the road to allow the car to pass, another vehicle came into view. The police told Monk the college-age girl who was driving had been playing with her radio, looked up and saw the stationary vehicle in the road. She swerved off the road to avoid hitting the stopped car. She slammed into Monk instead.

The Impact
The force of the impact knocked Monk out of his high-top tennis shoes. He was just a few feet from being a repeat victim.
"Before she was able to stop, the driver almost ran back over me 68 feet from where I had been standing," he said.

Although Monk didn't lose consciousness, things got a little fuzzy. He thinks, but does not exactly know, if he was airborne for those 86 feet. He does, however, vividly recall a co-worker yelling, "Oh my God, he's alive — he's moving."

He suffered a broken shoulder, crushed collarbone, broken left arm, and multiple fractures of his left leg. She hit Monk flush, shattering her windshield.

The only thing that likely saved Monk was the car's design — it had a scooped-out front end, a feature of the older-model Saabs. "That's one of the only reasons I am still alive," Monk said. "It busted up my left side pretty badly. I have a permanent plate in my left arm, and a permanent rod through my left leg."

Although "Road Work" and "Prepare to Stop" signs were posted, the driver who hit Monk later told police she never saw them.
Monk spent two weeks in the hospital and the next five months in a hospital bed at home. "It was over a year before I was out of a wheelchair, and didn't need to use crutches or a cane," Monk explained.

Monk and his wife had just adopted a baby girl. "I had to watch her take her first steps from that hospital bed," he says wistfully. "That was the hardest part – not being able to play with her."

When he returned to work in the summer of 1997, more difficult times awaited.

The Aftermath
"The first time I was released to return to maintenance, I was put on flagging and a vehicle hit the brakes and slid…I almost passed out," he recalled.

"Ever since this incident, safety is my priority," explained Monk. "To this day on ALL my projects, safety is first. I always look for ways to make the work zone safer. Traffic control is very important." Monk now works for the design-construction Team A in District 6.

Monk said he still thinks of that 1996 event often. "It was life-changing in many ways." Life-changing, but not life-ending.

"I actually reference this event regularly when dealing with contractors," said Monk. "They need to be able to prepare for any situation. And realize that their job is not as important as their life."

Published 03-20-15