First Kentucky Safety Summit brings transportation workers together to discuss research, raise awareness

Transportation workers from across Kentucky came together in Lexington Tuesday for the state Transportation Cabinet’s first Kentucky Safety Summit.

The conference brought workers together to discuss ways to help lessen deaths on Kentucky’s roads. That includes discussing research and programs to help keep both workers and pedestrians safer.

Governor Andy Beshear was a guest at the conference and spoke to those in attendance.

“The safety of our families is what we worry about from the moment we get up to the moment we go to bed,” Beshear said. “And to have this many incredibly driven public servants thinking through all the new ideas about how to make us safer, and them safer, when they're working on the roads is so important.”

The Transportation Cabinet says 813 lives were lost on the road in 2023 - the most since 2016. They’ve been working to lessen that number this year.

“We lost a 22 year old this year that was flagging when they were hit by a driver. You've got to make sure that these instances are less frequent – hopefully that they would never happen at all – because that's an individual with a family,” Beshear said.

The conference is scheduled to continue through Thursday.

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