ST. LOUIS–More than a year after MoDOT workers were killed on the job in a South St. Louis County traffic crash, there are new efforts to make changes to state law in their memory.

What You Need To Know

  • Friends and family of two MoDOT workers killed on the job are renewing efforts to change state laws

  • James Brooks, Kaitlyn Anderson and her unborn son Jaxx died when a driver crashed into their MoDOT workzone

  • There is nothing in the state of Missouri to hold MoDOT or any other company accountable for that neglect, those failures, no training, no oversight," says Anderon's aunt

  • Protestors want answers from MoDOT after workers killed in crash

A driver with a medical emergency crashed into a MoDOT work zone on Telegraph Road at I-255 on Nov. 18, 2021. Two employees, Kaitlyn Anderson, who was pregnant, and James Brooks were killed. A third employee, Michael Brown was seriously injured in the crash.

On Tuesday at the state capitol, Brooks’ widow Bridgit, Anderson’s mother Tonya Musskopf, and her aunt Tabatha Moore, wore traffic cone-orange shirts through the halls, after they were recognized as guests on the House floor.

“There is nothing in the state of Missouri to hold MoDOT or any other company accountable for that neglect, those failures, no training, no oversight,” said Tabatha Moore, Anderson’s aunt. 

With Musskopf wearing her daughter’s employee badge, the group went around the capitol to speak to lobby lawmakers for new legislation regarding employee safety and employer accountability. 

Brooks remembered her husband as a family man who was a good father. She says James was on MoDOT all the time about safety concerns. 

“He was killed because MoDOT failed him as an employee,” Brooks told Spectrum News. 

Moore says she believes if MoDOT used a TMA, a truck-mounted attenuator that acts like a giant shock absorber, her loved ones would still be alive. 

“In the state of Missouri, they told us that Kaitlyn’s life meant nothing, there is no value,” said Moore. 

She explained the way the laws are written now there is no way to hold MoDOT or any other company accountable for the loss of life.

Spectrum News reached out to MoDOT which says it does not speak about situations that are currently in litigation.

Senate Bill 292 modifies the liability of employers and allows for punitive damages to be awarded if a plantiff shows "clear and convincing evidence" that the public entity violated a safety standard.  State Representative Cyndi Buchheit-Courtway has sponsored HB 745 to help protect highway workers by setting fines for those who strike MoDOT or contractor equipment.

Brooks is optimistic about the proposed legislation. She says they’ve been to the capitol three times so far to raise awareness. 

Moore says the biggest roadblock to getting the legislation passed is convincing legislators this is a bipartisan issue. 

“This is protecting the Missouri worker, this is a human thing, not a republican or a democrat thing,” she explained.