WCDO Radio News

This Week is National Work Zone Awareness Week, a campaign today through Friday that promotes work zone safety statewide, urging drivers to slow down, stay alert and follow New York State’s Move Over Law to protect highway and roadside workers. After three straight years of decline, work zone crashes have increased, In 2025, there were 366 work zone crashes on NYSDOT-owned roads that resulted in 58 injuries and two fatalities. Beginning this week & running throughout the summer, State Police and local law enforcement agencies will conduct “Operation Hardhat” details in active work zones statewide. New York continues to expand its Automated Work Zone Speed Enforcement program, where cameras are deployed, to deter speeding & aggressive driving, more information is available at ny.gov/workzone.

The Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee & law enforcement agencies across the state, will participate in the “No Empty Chair” Campaign this week focused on education, awareness, and enforcement to keep young drivers safe. The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, along with other agencies statewide, will be increasing patrols near area schools, today's focus is Underage Drinking & Impaired Driving, Tuesday, Seat Belts & Child Restraints, Wednesday, Cell Phone Use & Texting While Driving, Thursday, Operation Safe Stop, and Friday, Speeding in School Zones.

The Governor's Office announced that this week is WORK ZONE AWARENESS WEEK through April 21st. A State Police crackdown on work zone violations will also be taking place during the week, with their "Operation Hardhat" initiative, which highlights the importance of safe driving practices in active construction and maintenance work zones across the state.

State Police and local law enforcement agencies issued a record 3,062 tickets from April 1 to November 17 of this year as part of Operation Hardhat. Last year, Police issued 2,336 tickets, this year's tickets, included over 1200 were for speeding, 426 for using a cell phone while driving, 124 were for violating the Move Over Law, 229 tickets were issued in the Southern Tier.

The State Police, the State DOT and the Thruway Authority announced that State Police and local law enforcement agencies issued a record number of tickets during 2021’s Operation Hardhat, which is a joint initiative to crack down on work zone violations and highlight the importance of safe driving when encountering construction, maintenance and emergency operations along state highways. A total of 2,336 tickets were issued during Operation Hardhat details this year, breaking the previous record of 2,018 tickets set during 2020. The region with the highest number of Tickets was the Southern Tier, with 490.

P.M. NEWS THURSDAY 5-6-21

State Police and another law enforcement agency issued 444 tickets during last week's Operation Hardhat, where members of law enforcement patrol Department of Transportation and Thruway Authority work zones to enforce work zone speed limits and ensure that motorists are obeying flagging personnel.   The enforcement and educational efforts come as New York State continues to experience a rising number of work zone intrusions, including 3 recent crashes that injured 6 highway workers just last week.  81 tickets were for speeding, 41 for seat belt violations, 135 for cell phone use while driving, & 47 violated the "Move Over" law.  44 Tickets were issued in the Southern Tier Operation Hardhat Zones.

Broome County Health Department announced that they had 106 more COVID 19 positive cases Friday, bringing their total up to 5596 since the Spring, they have 622 active cases, with 30 hospitalized, there were 4 more deaths, their death toll is up to 140, over 4200 are being monitored by the Health Department.

A.M. NEWS FRIDAY 12-4-20

State Police issued 1,779 tickets during this year's Operation Hardhat, an initiative between State Police, the State Department of Transportation and others, to crack down on work zone violations and highlight the importance of safe driving when encountering construction, maintenance and emergency operations along state highways.   The number of violations issued was 69.8% Higher than the 2019 Operation Hard Hat.

State Police and the Department of Transportation continue to work together targeting reckless and distracted drivers in active work zones with “Operation Hardhat”. Last Thursday, 2 work zones on I-81 in Broome County were targeted, during the initiative, 33 tickets were issued, 10 for Speeding, 9 for Cell Phone Use, 6 for not wearing a Seatbelt & 8 more for a variety of infractions. As of mid-September, over 1,600 tickets have been issued throughout New York; the initiative began in July and continues through construction season through the month of November.

State Police will be working in Work Zones along state highways this summer, making sure that Motorists are obeying the Move Over Laws & other laws during "Operation Hard Hat"  Trooper Aga Dembinska of Troop C in Sidney explains:

(Trooper Aga 7-15-20)

During last year's "Operation Hardhat" enforcement,  State Police issued 1,048 tickets across the state, including 493 speeding violations, 92 cell phone violations, 94 seatbelt, 72 move over violations among many other infractions.

Governor Cuomo today announced that 4 additional states meet the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory requiring individuals who have traveled to New York from those states to quarantine for 14 days. The newly-added states are Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin, the state of Delaware has been removed. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. A travel enforcement operation begins today at airports across the state to help ensure travelers are following the state's quarantine restrictions and to help contain the rates of COVID-19 transmission in New York State, failure to adhere could result in fines up to $2000.

Governor Cuomo announced the start of "Operation Hardhat," a statewide traffic enforcement detail targeting motorists who drive recklessly through work zones. The operation is a joint initiative between the New York State Police, Department of Transportation and Thruway Authority, State Troopers will patrol active highway work zones throughout the summer, Troopers will be present within the work zones, dressed as highway maintenance workers, to identify motorists who disobey flagging personnel, speed through the work zone or violate the state's Move Over Law.

State
Police issued a total of 1,048 tickets statewide during Operation Hardhat.   State Police conducted 28 separate details
at DOT operated work zones, starting in August through early November.  493 were issued for speeding, 92 for cell
phone use and 72 violations of New York's Move Over law.

State Police and the DOT are continuing "Operation
Hardhat," as they try to crack down on work zone violations and promote
safe driving through active work zones on state highways.  State Trooper are patrolling active work
zones on I-81 in Broome and Route 17 in Tioga County; on Wednesday troopers
issued 21 tickets in the I-81 work zone on Interstate 81 in Broome County, 16
were cell phone tickets, 2 for the Move Over Law, 2 for Moving From a Lane
Unsafely & 1 for a seat belt violation.

State Police and the Department
of Transportation announced the continuation of “Operation Hardhat,” to crack
down on work zone violations and highlight the importance of safe driving
through active work zones on state highways.
State DOT Region 9 Director Nick Choubah said that drivers are not
moving over as they should:

(Nick Choubah 8-28-19)

State Police Captain Jeffrey
VanAuken explained what the Move Over Law means:

(Captain Jeffrey Van Auken
8-28-19)

State Troopers are patrolling
active DOT work zones along Interstate-81 in Broome County and State Route 17
in Tioga County this week to enforce work zone speed limits and that motorist’s
follow the state’s Move Over Law.