Police to crack down on speeders in highway work zones

REGINA – Drivers with a heavy foot be warned – police around Saskatchewan are cracking down on speeders through highway construction zones during April.

One driver learned how costly that was when she was caught by RCMP going 137 km/h after exiting a work zone on Highway 16 near Foam Lake last year.

“When I asked the driver what she was thinking and why she ignored the flag person, she said she had slowed down close to 60 km/h and that should have been good enough,” said Cpl. Rodney Levesque, a member of traffic services with Yorkton RCMP.

“She said she was in a hurry and had no intention of stopping for anything, or anyone, else.”

The highway was down to one lane in both directions with traffic alternating between westbound and eastbound traffic.

The driver passed everyone who stopped, went around the flag person and went into oncoming traffic.

She ended up with tickets totalling $624, one of the 1,347 people convicted in 2013 for speeding in a construction zone.

In 2012, Ashley Richards was struck and killed on Aug. 24, 2012 while working on a highway crew near Midale. Fifty-six other people were injured in 178 collisions in work zones during the year.

Richards’ death prompted the government to increase fines and bring in photo radar.

With that in mind, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) and police forces around the province are making speeding in work zones the focus of April’s traffic safety spotlight.

Along with photo radar, police will be ensuring drivers adhere to the 60 km/h speed limit in highway construction zones.

“There’s simply too much impatience out there. Know that once you go beyond the posted speed limit, you lessen your survivability if you get in a crash,” added Levesque.