Page 6 - Work Force May 2025

6 The Work Force May 2025
ALBANY — CSEA officers recently
joined state, union, safety and
elected officials in pushing for state
legislators to make permanent
the automated work zone safety
enforcement
program.
The Automated
Work Zone Speed
Enforcement
(AWZSE) program
is the result of
legislation signed
into law by Gov.
Kathy Hochul in
September 2021.
The legislation
authorized a five-
year pilot program
run as a joint effort
by the New York
State Department
of Transportation
(NYSDOT) and the New York State
Thruway Authority (NYSTA) to
enhance the state’s ongoing efforts to
slow motorists down in work zones
to make New York’s highways safer.
More than 420,000 Notices of
Liability have been issued statewide,
with nearly 78,400 repeat offenders
since the AWZSE
program launched
in May 2023. In
locations where the
cameras have been
present more than
once, fewer Notices
of Liability are being
issued, meaning that
drivers are slowing
down when cameras
are present.
While this is a step
in the right direction,
our union is urging
for more action.
“More needs to
be done to protect
workers,” said CSEA Executive Vice
President Richard Bebo at the event.
Bebo warned that drivers in a rush,
CSEA joins union, state
officials to urge for
work zone safety
or distracted, need to show more
respect for worker safety.
“We must explore all avenues to
protecting road and highway workers
risking their lives every day,” said
CSEA Thruway Authority Local
President Sean Kennedy. “The AWZSE
program serves as a deterrent to
distracted and reckless driving while
boosting safety for workers as well as
the traveling public.”
In addition to her proposal to
make the AWSZE permanent, the
governor’s proposed state budget
also includes language to enhance
penalties for assaults against
transportation workers, extending
protections similar to those provided
to many Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) and retail workers.
As this edition was going to press,
the budget was still being finalized.
“The Automated Work Zone Speed
Enforcement Program is a critical
tool to enhance safety in work zones
across the state,” said New York
State Thruway Authority Executive
Director Frank G. Hoare. “We are
committed to enhancing safety for
all highway workers and strongly
support Governor Hochul’s proposal
to make this effective program
permanent.”
“CSEA applauds Governor
Hochul’s leadership on this issue
and calls on the New York State
Legislature to make the Automated
Work Zone Speed Enforcement
program permanent,” said CSEA
President Mary E. Sullivan.
— Therese Assalian
CSEA Executive Vice President Richard Bebo, CSEA Thruway Authority
Local President Sean Kennedy and and CSEA Thruway Authority Local
Treasurer Georgiann Mock at the event.
CSEA Executive Vice President Richard Bebo, center, stands with DOT
workers at the event.
State
Transportation
Commissioner
Marie Therese
Dominguez
addresses the
press.
“We must explore all
avenues to protecting
road and highway
workers risking their
lives every day. The
AWZSE program
serves as a deterrent
to distracted and
reckless driving while
boosting safety for
workers as well as the
traveling public.”