Erica Hutt's major is elementary education. But her mission is saving lives.

When her uncle, Class of 1995 alumnus Chris Hutt, was killed on a highway work site in 2006, then-high school senior Erica researched the issue of work zone safety and wrote an essay on the subject that eventually landed on the desk of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who sent it on to the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT).

Not long afterward, Erica and her family stood by the governor as he signed into law House Bill 1623 that sharply increased the penalties for speeding and/or causing vehicle accidents in work zones.

With the tougher laws in place, work zone crash fatalities in Indiana plunged by half, from 15 to 7, between 2006 and 2007 and not a single construction worker—contractor or INDOT employee—was killed. Injuries from work zone crashes also fell dramatically, to 835 from 965 in 2006 and more than 1,000 in 2005.

To help trumpet the progress being made on work zone safety and renew the call for heightened driver vigilance when approaching and traveling through roadwork areas, the Hutt family again was invited to participate in Statehouse ceremonies marking Highway Work Zone Safety Awareness Week April 7-11, 2008.

In front of television news cameras and wearing a support ribbon in safety cone orange, Erica again spoke of her late uncle—a former Cardinals football player—and how family members have come to think of the big orange road signs advising motorists of the increased fines and jail sentences for work zone safety violations as "Uncle Chris signs."

Said Erica, "They remind us of the daily highway workers that could be lost and that need protection while performing their everyday duties." She also urged drivers to remember the seven basic rules of driving in work zones: stay alert, pay attention, merge early, slow down, don't tailgate, minimize distractions, and always plan ahead.

"These simple actions taken by drivers can save the life of an uncle, brother, father, son, daughter, mother, sister, neighbor, coworker, or friend," said Erica, whose research into work zone safety continues alongside her education studies at Ball State.

For a first-year English paper she looked into newly developed robotic safety cones. Incorporating GPS technology, the cones can be placed and removed by remote control, thus reducing worker exposure to dangerous highway traffic.

"This is just another example of the tremendous strides that have been made in highway work zone safety, though more work remains to be done."