BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The New York State Thruway Authority is hoping shocking video footage will finally catch the attention of drivers.

It released a recording last week of a tractor trailer striking an attenuator truck in Buffalo, which was there to protect the road crew in front of it.

"Right now we're trying to send the message out. We've had a very difficult year," Thruway Authority Buffalo District Director Matthew Latko said.

Luckily there were no serious injuries during that November incident or less than a week later when a passenger vehicle struck the same operator in a different attenuator truck. However, in early November, a car struck and killed a maintenance supervisor, and in May, a worker was killed and another seriously injured in another accident.

"We lost a family member and it doesn't hit any harder than that and we have people that aren't going home to their spouses, their kids, their grandkids," Latko said.

State Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Bill Maganarelli, D-Syracuse, said he doesn't believe people are getting the message but it's not for lack of trying. In 2023, the state Legislature expanded its Move Over Law to require drivers to slow down and move over when possible for any vehicle on the side of the road.

The state also launched a five-year workzone speed camera pilot program last year.

"Whatever enforcement it takes, I will be behind it because these men and women who are out on our roads trying to keep us safe deserve better," Magnarellli said.

Associated General Contractors of New York State President Mike Elmendorf said at the industry conference this week in Saratoga there is a wall memorializing far too many workers who have lost their lives.

"Everybody that works in this industry has stories of either someone who they know or have worked with who was killed or a terrifying near miss like some of these videos that we've seen recently," Elmendorf said.

He said the speed camera program is working and the state should use all the tools at its disposal. Magnarelli said he would be open to supporting and expansion or extension of the program or making it permanent in the next session.

Latko said stricter penalties could be an option too. 

"Half of it's on us. Half of it's on the public," Latko said. We're doing everything we can to live up to our 50 percent and we need the traveling public to live up to their 50%."