Slow in construction zones

Castsant reporter Cindy White provided an informative and detailed report on the recent incident where a traffic control person on KLO Road )in Kelowna) was injured by a passing vehicle.

The unfortunate issue is the RCMP do not enforce speed limits, in cone zones or otherwise and compliance to the "slow down, move over" law is zero. That isn't an exaggeration, if you have amber lights on and no police around you, no drivers will slow down and move over.

A recent experiment on Highway 97 shows compliance to the law is, essentially, zero. In that experiment, a man equipped with a radar gun and a video recording device watched traffic respond to an AIM work truck with amber lights activated. It was parked and working on the shoulder of Highway 97.

Unfortunately, more drivers moved into the lane next to the working vehicle than out of it and speeds were not reduced at all. Only one driver, was close to the limit, while (passed) at 100 to to 124 kilometres per hour

What should happen? The lane adjacent to the worker/work vehicle should be completely empty, with all traffic safely moving into the lane furthest away from the worker(s).

In addition to moving over, vehicles are required to slow down. It isn't slow down or move over, it is slow down and move over. If the speed limit is more than 80 km/h, slow dow to 70 km/h. If it is less than 80 km/h, slow to 40 km/h, not 45 or 40. That's how speed limits work.

So, why does the public fail to obey the law? Simply put, without active enforcement or personal connection, they never will. The RCMP admitted during their spring campaign, (its officers) handed out as many warnings as possible and even with six officers, couldn't keep up. My suggestion is stop issuing warnings. They don't equal compliance.

Steep fines and high penalty points equal compliance. When it hurts enough that people are talking about it at work, complaining to co-workers about the steep fine, that is when you will see people listening.

The same rule, with slight variations, exists in almost every state and province, with a major difference—enforcement and penalties. For example, in Ontario, your first offence can come with a $2,000 fine and three demerit points. If you are silly enough to get caught again within five years, you could face a fine of $4,000 and face up to six months in jail with a suspension of your license for up to two years.

In B.C., it is a $173 fine and three demerit points. With current gas prices, that is barely the cost of a tank of fuel. Since RCMP officers’ safety is at stake, one would think the force would be eager to enforce the decade-old law. Not just enforcing it for officers but for all roadside workers.

One suggestion I have is because B.C. will never make changes like Alberta has, where roadside workers can use a colour in addition to amber, then all vehicles should have only amber lights facing to the rear. That way drivers approaching the vehicle don't know if a police officer is in attendance or not because all they will see is amber lights.

Any attentive traffic control person will confirm that a good percentage of the population is distracted by their phones (20% to 35% are actively using their phones). Construction zones are a hive of activity. Conditions change in a moment, without notice, and that is why you need to slow down, and you need to pay extra attention, not less.

If the posted speed limit is 30 km/h, that means the maximum speed you should be traveling is 30 km/h, not 35 km/h or 40 km/h. If a traffic control person waves at you to slow down, there is a reason for that. Even if you are traveling at the posted limit and they wave at you to slow down, slow down. They aren't asking for compliance, they are asking you to reduce your speed.

Why? Without warning, a piece of equipment might back onto the road, a truck might make a turn in front of you or a worker will cross the road. There could be a sharp drop off or an emergency vehicle approaching. You have to be driving slow enough that you can react to that hazards before colliding with them.

That is the basic theory of driving at a safe speed. It applies to residential areas too, and just because you aren't exceeding 50 km/h doesn't mean you are driving at an acceptable speed. You need to drive to the conditions, taking into account potential vulnerable road users, blind intersection, driveways, sight line obstructions and many other factors.

Recently, I watched a man (driving fast) into my neighbourhood, with a cell phone at eye level while making a right hand turn directly in front of a pedestrian on the road. He didn't notice a thing. If the pedestrian wasn't quick to react, it could have been very bad.

The clueless driver was so preoccupied by his phone, he didn't even know there was a near miss.

Troy Gangl