BATON ROUGE- In Louisiana alone, there were 13 work zone fatalities and more than 535 injuries in 2014.

Traffic officials are calling on drivers to decrease those numbers through the state and nation-wide DOTD Work Zone Awareness Week.

Monday marked the beginning week.

Rodney Mallet, of DOTD, stopped by 2une In on Monday to discuss the week.

He said that the week is an opportunity to educate drivers on what they can do to make workzone safer.

“We highlight one week for Work Zone Awareness because we have workers out on the streets all the time, and that’s their office,” Mallet said.

“People who are driving through work zones, they need to slow down and pay attention because the speed limits change and the conditions change when you’re entering a work zone and there is potential for tragedy,” he said.

Mallet said that the 13 deaths the state had from work zone accidents were preventable. He added that two of those accidents involved a drunk driver and another two accidents involved drivers or passengers not wearing seat belts.

“Don’t be that driver,” Mallet said.

Mallet said that drivers should be patient and considerate when driving through work zones.

“Just a fraction of a second can change your life and somebody else’s life,” he said.

The week is set to kickoff Monday at 1:30 p.m. with a cone memorial on the front lawn of DOTD Headquarters building in remembrance of the 669 nationwide fatalities in work zones in 2014.

Mallet also said that drivers can visit destinationzerodeaths.com to learn about more about safety tips while driving.