In construction zones use caution and slow down

Slow in the 'cone zone'

If you ever have the chance to talk to a school crossing guard, flag person, highway maintenance worker or anyone else whose job requires them to work in the “cone zone” on our highways, ask them how safe they feel when they are on the job.

If they don't have a story of their own about negative or dangerous driving behaviour, they have definitely watched someone else at their work site bear the brunt of a poor driving decision.

Photo: BCAA

Drivers are reminded to slow down and use caution in construction zones and where others are working at the side of the road.

In general, if our workplace is not safe, we feel entitled to apply pressure to our employers to make it so. If you think about it, in the cone zone, the employers are the drivers. If another person's workplace is not safe, we wonder why someone is not doing something about it. Either way, you are responsible when you are driving in a workplace.

A quick scan of WorkSafeBC collision numbers indicates there were nine deaths and 267 injuries between 2015 and 2024. One has to ask, why is this is so when every effort is made to post signs, erect cones and barricades, employ flag persons, use pilot vehicles, double the fines in construction zones and create advertising campaigns like “Stay Out of the Cone Zone and Slow Down, My Mother Works Here” campaign?

I once calculated it cost me 74 seconds to slow from 80 km/h to 50 km/h for the duration of one of the longer construction zones in my patrol area. Surely we can afford to grant this much consideration to our road workers, even if we do feel we don't have time for anyone but ourselves in our busy lives.

These people have to go home to their families at the end of their shifts as well. Please help to make sure that they can do it.

The “Slow down, move over” rules apply to drivers in the cone zone.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.