WATCH: As Calgary officially enters construction season, be prepared for delays, lineups and reduced speed. Calgary Police are asking for patience, but as Gary Bobrovitz reports some motorists aren’t getting the message.
CALGARY – Police are warning drivers about the dangers of speeding through road construction zones, and are reporting some success in their enforcement programs in Calgary.
Two construction workers were killed and more than 1,000 collisions on the sites were caused by speeding and careless drivers across the province last year.
The general manager of Lahrman Construction says he’s had his fair share of close calls.
“It’s totally scary,” said Dwayne Berlando. “I don’t know how many close calls…but by the grace of God that I am still here. Sometimes you dive at the last minute and just barely escape.”
Speeding carries the risk of an expensive ticket: One kilometre over the limit is a $74 fine; 50 kilometres over the limit carries a $474 fine and a mandatory court appearance. Those penalties are doubled to $148 and $948 in construction zones under new provincial legislation.
Police say enforcement programs are having some success, especially at night.
“A couple of weeks ago, we put out electronic enforcement in a construction zone on Deerfoot Trail and in a five-hour period, we generated over 400 summonses,” said Calgary Police Staff Sgt. Dean Vegso. “We continued with that enforcement program and a couple of days ago ran it same night time—in that same period of time—one summons.”
“The message is: please don’t speed through those construction zones.”
The Alberta government is gathering data to see if driver compliance is changing.
The city’s Transportation Department provided Global News with this short list of Calgary’s major road construction projects this year:
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