Loved ones of the Ohio Department of Transportation worker killed on Interstate 680 say they are devastated beyond belief.

As Michelle Nicks explains, they want motorists to slow down long enough to listen up because their pain is real, and they have a message that they hope will hit home.

ODOT worker John Pasko told his fiance and his mother that he loved his job despite the dangers.  But his family is questioning if an actual medical emergency is responsible for the crash that killed him.

Now they're urging drivers to respect the ODOT workers who risk their lives to maintain your roads.

Susan Uber cried as she welcomed us into her Salem home, saying the last 24 hours have been a nightmare.

"It just feels like my world's been turned upside down and the best thing in my life has been taken from me," Uber said.

Uber and John Pasko were talking about getting married sometime this year.  But the dream to marry the love of her life won't happen now.  Pasko was the ODOT worker killed instantly when 73-year-old Daniel Bondi's vehicle struck and killed him on Interstate 680 near Market Street in Youngstown.

"This man took the one thing that we loved the most from us.  He took our John.  I want people to understand one thing, when you see the highway workers on the road, please slow down and pay attention," Uber said through tear-filled eyes.

The Youngstown Police Accident Investigation Unit is in the early stages of their investigation but said the driver appeared to have a medical emergency. However, the victim's family now questions that since he's already been released from the hospital after only an overnight stay.

Uber said, "If you have a medical emergency or a medical problem, they're not going to let you out of the hospital that soon.  There's more behind this."

And as a mother prepares to say goodbye to her son, she begs drivers to slow down, stay off their phones, pay attention to the road and pay attention to signs warning of road workers or construction up ahead.  At least for the sake of so many other ODOT workers.

Seventy-four-year-old Claudia Cullin tells 21 News, "Every single day when they're out there they have to fight the motoring public.  They will not slow down.  They drive past them and they swear at them and they give them filthy gestures, and they call them losers."

But Cullin hopes what happened to her son will be a wake-up call.

"If my son's death can save one ODOT worker from this horror then it will be some meaning to it," Cullin said.

Youngstown Police tell 21 News that one other ODOT worker was hit and suffered an injury it's believed to their arm. 

Investigators will likely begin interviewing ODOT workers who witnessed the accident next week.  Authorities have not said whether speed was a factor at this point. The only thing that they can say is that alcohol was not a factor in the crash.  

The 73-year-old driver of the car from Youngstown could not be reached for comment.