This image of a highway construction zone was borrowed from Global News
60km in a construction zone!
Tisdale - Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Highways are a dangerous place. Over one hundred twenty people have died on Saskatchewan highways in 2012 and there are still three months left in this year.
It has been at least five years since Saskatchewan established, that the speed limit in a construction zone, when passing emergency vehicles, snow ploughs and police cars with flashing lights on, the speed limit is 60 kph. This is not a complicated rule, but it is really a dangerous one. This measure was put in place because there were several serious incidents where death and injury had occurred by motorists ignoring those flashing lights, or warning signs. I for one, slow my vehicle down when I spot flashing lights, or enter a zone where there are highway maintenance or construction machines. It is just common sense, but I have experienced some very tense moments when vehicles behind me see no reason to reduce speed.
The most terrifying situation is when an overtaking vehicle decides to ignore the flashing lights or warning signs and barrels right by you, as you slow down and they rush into the danger zone, at full or above the posted speed limit. The eighteen year old flag person killed near Midale this year, was hit in such a situation. Traffic was stopped and a vehicle did not slow down but passed the stopped vehicles and hit the flag person.
There was a lot of anguish in the province at the time and the consensus was, that speed limits in Saskatchewan are essential a joke, because there is so little enforcement. Alberta vehicles pass everything on the highways and I have yet to see one pulled over by a police car. In fact, it is pretty hard to find a police car on Saskatchewan highways. If you drive the speed limit in Saskatchewan, either on the highway, or in its cities, you will have vehicles charging into your rear window, unless you are abut 15% above the posted speed limit. With this as the background situation, it is no wonder that the 60 kph in orange zones or in the vicinity of emergency vehicles, will rarely be adhered to.
Today, the Minister of Highways announced that the RCMP would be stepping up their enforcement in construction zones for the rest of the construction year. The highways department would foot the bill of extra overtime that the RCMP put in doing this work. Now that would seem to me, that the department of highways is offering the law enforcement agency a bribe to do the work they should already be doing. Well, that isn’t exactly the case. Just to show you how really serious the provincial government and the Department of highways is about this issue they have allotted a whopping “$15,000” to cover the expenses.
Just think how much overtime and judicious police work will be done for this enormous sum of $15,000?
The minister stated that over 600 tickets have been issued for violation of the orange zone this year. With the fine being $140 for exceeding 60 that amounts to $84,000. With that in mind, I wonder where the government could possible afford that massive $15,000 overtime bill.
It would seem that the lives of construction and highway workers lives have been downscaled considerably.