httpd: /status application doesn't work when no worker node has been started

When I start httpd and don't yet have worker nodes running, http://localhost:8000/status (or /status/) returns a 404. Why is the status app dependent on workers running ?

It should bi similar to the status app with mod-jk, where we see configured workers, but status=down. Well, since we don't know a priori which workers will be running, we should at least show a page that says:

No workers detected
Advertisements: 224.0.1.105:23364
AdvertisementPeriod: 5 sec
etc