PSEG Long Island Urges Customers to Stay Alert While Driving Near Work Zones

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Apr 11, 2016, 10:00 ET

UNIONDALE, N.Y., April 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of National Work Zone Awareness Week, PSEG Long Island urges customers to stay alert when driving near work zones. Driving in and around work zones requires drivers to constantly be prepared for changes – changes that a distracted driver may not notice in time to prevent a crash.

"Across our service territory every day, we have hundreds of personnel out on the roads improving the reliability and resiliency of the electric grid and ensuring customers that have lost power get restored quickly," said John O'Connell, vice president of transmission & distribution at PSEG Long Island. "To keep them safe and to ensure you get to where you're going safely, we owe them our full attention when driving through work zones."

PSEG Long Island Electric Line and Tree Trim Crews are regularly working on electric reliability and FEMA improvement projects to meet the growing needs of our customers and strengthen the system across Long Island and the Rockaways. To ensure traffic moves safely, PSEG Long Island licensed and approved contractors provide cones, flagmen and signage at the work site, as needed, to minimize interruptions.

National Work Zone Awareness Week is an annual spring campaign to encourage safe driving through work zones. Driver-related factors that affect work zone crashes include speeding, in-vehicle distractions and inattentive or aggressive driving. In 2014, the most recent year for which national data are available, distracted driving was a factor in 16 percent of fatal crashes in work zones, while speeding was a factor in 29 percent.

O'Connell continued, "When driving through work zones, please slow down. Following the rules of the road and respecting the work zone will make it easier to expect the unexpected."

For more information on PSEG Long Island Reliability and FEMA projects visit https://www.psegliny.com/page.cfm/AboutUs/CurrentInitiatives or for additional information on this year's National Work Zone Awareness Week, visit http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/outreach/wz_awareness.htm.

PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority's transmission and distribution system under a 12-year contract. PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE: PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of approximately $11 billion.

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SOURCE PSEG Long Island