A near miss for a New York Department of Transportation worker on the side of Interstate 81 near Whitney Point is causing concern among officials.

The unidentified employee scrambled out of the way at the last second as a box truck crashed into two DOT vehicles parked on the side of the road.

“You look at it and you just have this gut reaction to it," said DOT spokesperson Daniel Scharfenberger.

In just the last copule weeks, another Thruway worker has been killed and state trooper was been hit while stopped on the side of the highway.

"The reality is we put ourselves in harms way," said Charles Murphy, the union president for the state police.

New York state has fines for work zone speeding, the expanded move over law, construction enforcement and even their own camera programs. All of these are to remind drivers how to drive safely, but still, State Police said they’ve seen an increase in violations.

“As it is we’ve seen a 7% increase in tickets issued because people are just not moving over," Murphy said.

New York State's Department of Transportation estimates that work zones have more than 700 fatalities, 24,000 injury crashes and 52,000 property damage-only crashes every year. The total cost of these crashes is estimated to be over $4 billion annually.

"if nothing else, when you see those yellow lights when you see people out on the highway, slow down, move over. Keep everybody safe," Scharfenberger said.

In an attempt to keep people safe, the NYSDOT launched a “Notice of Liability” program. This has cameras in work zones that mail fines to drivers when detected speeding in work zones.

They say more than 167,000 notices of liability have been issue the spring of 2023.

“Our workers have families to go home to, too," Scharfenberger said. "They’re trying to make the road safe for you.”