‘We all want to come home at the end of the day’: Okanagan flaggers rally for safety

Nearly 100 traffic control flaggers, road workers, service workers and emergency personnel rallied on Highway 97 in Vernon on Saturday to promote safety on the job.

A female flagger from Enderby was struck by a car on Nov. 17 in Lavington, B.C.

READ MORE:  Okanagan flag person hit by car; taken to hospital by helicopter

“She’s still in the hospital, fighting,” said Michelle Hudson, one of the organizers of the event.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "She's still in the hospital, fighting," said Michelle Hudson, one of the organizers of the event.

Hudson says sometimes, motorists are in too much of a hurry to pay attention to the safety of people on the road, but often, drivers are distracted.

“When I’m standing on the side of the road, I see people texting when they drive by, or on their phones or feeding the baby in the back,” Hudson said.

According to WorkSafe BC, in the past 10 years, 15 roadside workers have been killed and 229 have been injured on the job.

Most of the casualties have been flaggers.