05/14/09 Terrebonne
 
Terrifying moments for 26 year old Shane Welsh of Bend Thursday morning. He was hit by a car at 9:00 a.m. while flagging at a road construction site on Lower Bridge Way and 31st in Terrebonne. "Basically the second vehicle in line that was waiting to go, and that person decided to drive around another parked vehicle and to go around it in order to proceed west bound," said Sergeant Chad Davis with the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.
 
Shane was struck by a 2000 Chevy Venture driven by 45 year old Molly Hall of Terrebonne. "The person was struck and ended up on the hood of the vehicle and was carried for a brief time," said Davis.
 
He was carried ten feet. Witnesses jumped out to help and Shane and he was taken to Saint Charles in Redmond with a back injury.
 
Welsh was not allowed to go on camera by the company that hired him, but he says in his six years on the job this is the third time he's been hit and it's by far the worst. His back is in pain which is going to keep him off the job for a few days but he is expected to make a full recovery,"
 
KOHD called Hall who said this was all a misunderstanding. She was cited for Recklessly Endangering a Highway Worker, an A misdemeanor and failure to yield to a highway worker, a C violation; costing her $2,500.
 
Shane's father, Steve Welsh is the co- owner of Reliable Flagging in Bend, he's been in the business for fifteen years and says he's been struck about a dozen times. "You get brushed, you have people try to intimidate you, coming up and stopping at the last second kind of right by you or swerving, it's just, like I said, the job," said Welsh.
 
Steve's advice to flaggers and his son worked this time, " if there is contact with a vehicle get your feet up in the air so you go over the hood instead of underneath it," Welsh advises.
 
Welsh says collisions with flaggers are rare and when they do happen they're rarely reported unless it causes serious injuries.