Construction zone safety in Lethbridge

The City of Lethbridge is reminding motorists to slow down and drive carefully in construction zones. There is currently work being completed in different areas of the city including Mayor Magrath and Scenic Drive. City staff and the Lethbridge Police Service say it is important to ease up on the gas pedal in these zones or you could be hit with a severe fine.

Sgt. Danny Lomness of the Traffice Response Unit at the LPS, says one of the more common issues in construction zones would be motorists going around barricades, “For somebody to go around a barricade you’re looking at a fine between $162 to $243 for failing to obey a traffic control device. The other main concern would be motorists speeding through construction zones. If workers are present, speed fines are doubled. For example, on a normal roadway if a vehicle’s doing 10 kilometers over, it’s roughly a $110 fine. But, if it’s a construction zone that’s well marked and there’s workers present it would be $222 for ten over the speed limit.”

“So, it’s more the near misses we’re concerned about, right? We have had lots of those and we keep track of them. We have several a year that are reported by our staff members. There’s still a lot of unreported incidents where it’s like he swerved by at a certain speed, but I didn’t feel I got hurt,” says the Transportation Operations Manager for the city, Juliane Ruck.

Lethbridge Police say there haven’t been any deaths at construction zones but that the province experiences several per year in different areas.