FRANKFORT – Five years ago, a Magoffin County man was killed while working in a road construction zone, but last week legislation named in his honor was passed, changing the law to make it safer for workers who put their lives on the line every day to make Kentucky roads safer.
Jared Lee Helton was just 22 years old on November 5, 2019, working as a Tennessee Department of Transportation contractor for A&A Safety (out of Ohio), when he was struck and killed while working in a construction zone near the Arlington exit of I-40 in West Tennessee. It was their crews’ last week of the season working that job site.
His co-worker, 30-year-old Justin Stafford, of Johnson County, was also killed in the wreck.
According to the original news reports, the men were working in a mobile work zone within a lane closure, laying down reflectors in the middle of the interstate when the wreck occurred.
Cones were out and a trooper, who was also badly injured, was following behind the workers as a blocker. Cody Fultz, also from Magoffin County, was injured in the wreck, as well.
In court, it was determined that the driver was speeding and driving under the influence of narcotics, but inevitably served 3 ½ years for the deadly crash.
While that all occurred in Tennessee, Jared Lee Helton’s parents, Lonja and Richard Helton, knew they had to see something change to help keep work zone workers safer.
“About a month after his death, I went to Jack Cline in West Liberty, me, Richard, and my sister, Tonja, and he knew a lot of people in Frankfort, so he took us down there and we met with Senator Stivers, who got Representative John Blanton on board,” Lonja told the SI.
The told everyone they met in Frankfort about Jared and what had happened to him, pleading for some kind of change to be made that would keep other families from experiencing what they were going through.
“The Lord put it on my heart within a few weeks, and now it’s a lifelong legacy for Jared,” Lonja said. “This has been five years to make a change, and that’s unheard of, really, so I call it a miracle and if it can spare someone else from going through what we’ve been through, it will be worth it, but I think it will save so many more.”
Since the first meeting with Rep. Blanton, he has proposed a bill for automated enforcement devices four times in the House.
“A lot of people are reserved about it, calling them ‘speed cameras,’ and this was the fourth time running it through, but until now I couldn’t get it out of the House because of the speed enforcement devises,” Rep. Blanton told the SI. “This time I had someone show me a bill that passed in Arkansas about devices that take a picture and sends it to a nearby officer and the officer conduct s a traffic stop. There’s no recording of data with that, so that was acceptable to most everyone.”
House Bill 664 was the last bill to be pushed through in the 2025 legislative session, passing both the House and Senate handily and currently sitting on the governor’s desk for a signature.
“The bill has other things included,” Rep. Blanton said. “The devices will only be operated and used when at least one worker is present in the work zone, so nights and weekends when no workers are present, these won’t be utilized. They will have signage with flashing lights, so when the signs are lit up, you will know the cameras are being used.”
Rep. Blanton made sure to name the law after Helton, making it the Jared Lee Helton Act, but also explained that this is very needed.
“Kentucky averages 12 to 18 fatalities in work zones a year and Arkansas saw an 87% reduction in fatalities in work zones over the last three years,” Rep. Blanton said. “The goal is not to write more tickets, but to make drivers more conscientious in work zones for the safety of the workers. No one wants to lose a family member and this is preventable.”
Lonja commended Rep. Blanton for being “her voice” in Frankfort, noting she would watch the Transportation Cabinet meetings on KET and see him fighting for this bill, stating that he pushed relentlessly to make this happen and they couldn’t have brought about change without him or Jack Cline.
“John kept pressing and fighting to push this through and we’re proud of him and how he’s helped us to make a difference,” Lonja said. “He’s a compassionate man and when he steps up, he goes for it. And Jack Cline went right with us to help us get to the right people, helping us meet with Senator Stivers, who put us in touch with John, so we’re so thankful for them both.”
She said the matter was “near and dear” to her heart, crediting God for putting the matter on her mind so soon after Jared’s death and giving her the strength to keep pushing, noting it all happened “in His time.”
“When it passed, last bill of the session, I had to call Lonja and let her know,” Blanton said. “Of course, she was elated, but so is the Transportation Cabinet and the road workers who are positively impacted by this.”
Lonja confirmed that when she told Jared’s boss about the bill passing, he was excited to share the good news in his next safety meeting, noting they were following it closely.
“Our main goal was to make a difference and to spare lives,” Lonja said. “We wanted to make something good out of it, to make sure he didn’t die in vain, and now it’s going to help the whole state of Kentucky, and hopefully we’ll see it go even further than that.”
Jared had been working for A&A for going on two years and his mom said he loved that job.
“He graduated from Magoffin County High School in 2015, then went to college for criminal law and justice, receiving his certificate from Big Sandy after he died,” Lonja remembered. “He always said he was not here for a long time, but he had a purpose and evidently this was it. Who would have thought a little country boy from Magoffin County could make this big of a change?”
She said she hopes the cameras and increased fines will help deter people from speeding in work zones.
Under HB 664, if a violation occurs in a highway work zone, the fine would be $500 if no person is physically injured or dies as a result. Drivers who commit this violation may choose to attend a state traffic school or a county attorney-operated traffic safety program. However, if the violation results in physical injury or death of any person, the fine would range from $500 to $10,000.
All fines collected in a highway work zone would be deposited into the Transportation Cabinet’s highway work zone safety fund and used exclusively by the Transportation Cabinet to hire or pay for enhanced law enforcement of traffic laws within highway work zones.
“We just want people to slow down,” Lonja said. “I hope they remember Jared and Justin, and I hope they remember that construction workers’ lives matter. They are someone’s children, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, so slow down and show respect for your fellow man. They’re there to improve the roads for them, and we wanted change so it would be safer – so people won’t have to lose their loved ones – because once they’re gone, they’re gone. There was a wreck like this earlier this week in Lexington. It happens far too often.”
While not named after him specifically, Lonja asked that people also remember Justin Swafford, who had a daughter and wasn’t even supposed to work that week, but had been called back in, inevitably working that shift with Jared and both getting killed in the wreck.
Lonja also has a program called Grief Share through the Magoffin County Health Department to help people going through the loss of a loved one, with the next program starting on April 28.
