Road flagger Mark Hutchinson of Greene narrowly missed becoming a highway death statistic numerous times this summer.

“I’ve had to dive in the bushes I don’t know how many times to keep from getting hit,” said Hutchinson, a flagger for Portland’s At Work Security. “People just don’t pay attention. They just don’t care, like they’ve got better things to do.”

He blamed that attitude for the death of a Maine Department of Transportation surveyor who was struck and killed by a pickup truck on Upland Road in Lisbon on Monday. Drivers seem blas about slowing for construction, Hutchinson said. Either they just don’t care or they’re distracted – by cell phones, cups of coffee or children competing for their attention.

“It’s bad, especially bad now,” Hutchinson said. “They don’t want to stop; they don’t care. We’re the idiots, they say, because we’re in the way, trying to get them to stop or slow down.”

Maine State Police are still investigating the Lisbon accident that killed 50-year-old surveyor Mark Peterson of Hollis. They have not decided whether to file charges against driver Michael Stevens, 47, of Lisbon Falls, said Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland.

Peterson was part of a two-person surveying team talking on the side of Upland Road Monday morning. The driver crested the top of a small hill, striking Peterson with the passenger side of his truck.

Peterson was taken to Central Maine Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Brad Foley, director of safety for the Maine Department of Transportation, would not discuss any precautions Peterson had taken Monday. According to police reports, he was wearing a reflective vest. Safety policy requires surveyors to post signs along the road warning drivers.

“It really is up to the discretion of each surveyor if they want to do more,” he said. “If they think a road is really busy or unsafe, they can bring a flagger or some construction vehicles with flashing yellow lights.”

Peterson didn’t have either of those on Monday, Foley said.

“In the end, everything we do to prepare drivers won’t help if they’re distracted,” Foley said. “We can’t prepare them if they’re not paying attention.”

Hutchinson carries a whistle to get drivers’ attention, he said. Failing that, he’ll hit them with his helmet.

“All I want is for them to pay attention,” Hutchinson said. “All I’m concerned about is protecting my crew and the other drivers. If they don’t see me, I have to do something.”

He wears a fluorescent orange vest and a matching construction helmet and carries a 7-foot stop sign. He still has a hard time getting drivers’ attention.

“We had a woman in Westbrook last week, and she was trying to get a pacifier for her baby in the back seat,” he said. “She didn’t even look at me. She was still going 25 miles an hour or so, and I knew there was a dump truck coming. So I threw my helmet at her car. It got her attention.”

He did that three other times this year in attempts to get drivers to stop.

“One guy called the police,” he said. The police sided with Hutchinson and warned the driver to slow down.

“I’ve been in the Portland area, in Lewiston, out in Lisbon – all around,” he said. “It’s all the same. They just blow past me, like I’m not even standing there.”