HARRISBURG -- House lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Wednesday that aims to make highways safer and crack down on reckless driving in construction zones.

The legislation, sponsored by House Transportation Committee Chairman Richard Geist, R-Blair, establishes a set of requirements designed primarily to prevent accidents and then to punish violators.

The bill, which goes to the Senate, will create a uniform look for work zones across Pennsylvania with standard warning signs, said Geist.

It also gives state officials stronger tools to keep unsafe trucks off the roads.

The bill requires a 15-day license suspension for drivers who speed in excess of 11 mph in highway construction zones where workers are present. Drivers who recklessly or negligently kill or injure a person in a construction area would face felony-grade penalties.

The bill would require PennDOT and contractors to clearly mark active work zones with white strobe lights or similar illuminated lights when workers are present. The bill designates active work zones to distinguish from sections of highway set up for ongoing work, but where workers may not actually be on the job at a given time.

The bill requires that drivers turn on their vehicle headlights when traveling through any marked work zone and eliminates any consideration of a "speed tolerance" above the posted limit through an active work zone.

A section of the bill requires PennDOT to establish "Highway Safety Corridors" where traffic and engineering studies warrant it. Fines would be doubled for traffic violations in designated safety corridors.

Geist's bill also deals with truck safety issues, although it doesn't address the full range of suggestions being made to reduce truck-related fatalities in Pennsylvania.

The bill:

• Decreases the minimum weight classification for motor vehicle carriers from 17,000 to 10,000 pounds to allow for more truck inspections.

• Gives PennDOT authority to refuse registration to any motor carrier who doesn't have proof of a valid inspection and to suspend the registration without a hearing for any motor carrier operating without correcting past violations within a required 15 days.

• Establishes tough fines for motor carriers, buses and school buses that have major brake problems.

The bill is a response to increasing concerns about the death toll on Pennsylvania highways and particularly in work zones.

Pennsylvania reported 859 truck-related fatalities between 1994 and 1998, 100 lives lost in work zone crashes between 1996 and 2000, three state troopers killed since 1995 and six PennDOT workers killed in work zones since 1995.

The bill gained momentum after a Capitol insider died last July in a fiery highway accident on Interstate 81 in Scranton. Thomas McCormac, a top legislative aide-turned-lobbyist was killed when a tractor-trailer plowed into the car in which he was riding. Traffic had stopped in the construction zone. The truck driver faces criminal charges.