May 27, 2009

Occupational Health and Safety

Winnipeg sows confusion about construction zones

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Construction crews in Winnipeg are facing a dangerous situation after the provincial government flip flopped on the enforcement of photo radar tickets in construction zones.

The government created the uncertainty about the speed limits after a provincial judge tossed out several tickets because workers weren’t present at the site when the violations were made.

“It takes a long time to build a mind set and this is creating a situation where the speed limit is being second guessed,” said John Doyle, Manitoba Federation of Labour co-ordinator.

“This is creating a situation where people are wondering if they do have to slow down or not slow down, which is very dangerous.”

The province’s heavy construction association has also expressed some concern.

“May we respectfully encourage all governments and parties to adopt clear and unequivocal steps to reduce speed limits in construction zones and permit their enforcement whether or not workers are present, leaving enforcement mechanisms to the discretion of police agencies,” said Chris Lorenc, president of the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association (MHCA), in a public statement.

“Respectfully the clear message must be that posted speeds through construction zones, occupied by construction works and/or others or not, are there for a safety reason – general public, pedestrian, motorist, worker – and will be enforced.”

Lorenc said this approach is necessary because the issue of safety is not limited to construction workers.

It also affects police, paramedic, fire, utility workers, engineers, survey crews and others whose jobs take them to or adjacent to construction sites.

In early May, Manitoba’s attorney general suspended photo radar in construction zones to review about 60,000 photo radar tickets handed out between 2008 to April 2009.

He also was looking at the issue of improper signage.

This drew the ire of those fighting for worker rights.

“It is pretty controversial now because people don’t like getting tickets, but workers safety is a high priority,” said Doyle.

“Speed limits in construction work zones affect our people very much, because they tend to get killed and run down on a regular basis. Over the years we have had quite a few fatalities.”

The temporary speed limit when passing construction zones in Manitoba is 60 kilometres per hour.

Provincial court judge Norm Sundstrom dismissed nine photo radar tickets earlier this year, when he found the drivers had exceeded the posted limit, but no workers were present in the construction zone.

The drivers were not going faster than the regular 80 km/h speed limit for that particular roadway.

Sundstrom ruled that without the workers, there was no safety issue, so the regular speed limit should apply.

Attorney General Dave Chomiak ruled that due to improper signage in construction zones, the Crown could not appeal the earlier traffic court case, which resulted in the nine speeding tickets being tossed.

With that decision, the Crown also stayed 875 outstanding speeding tickets, but refused to refund ticket fines already paid in an estimated 60,000 cases.

“The difficulty is that it is not always apparent there are no workers there until they are already in the zone or through it,” explained Doyle.

“We are concerned they will run into workers doing overtime or on a 12 hour shift. If no workers are there, I am not opposed to barriers being removed and the speed limit being restored when possible.”

In response, Attorney General Dave Chomiak, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and Police Chief Keith McCaskill have decided to tighten the regulations governing sign laws in construction zones.

They agreed to enforce photo radar when workers are present in the construction zones or if there is some other type of safety issue.

Motorists will be informed of speed limit restrictions through clearer roadside signage.

“If people are attuned to reduce their speed, even if it is a momentary inconvenience, I am in favour,” said John Doyle.

“At most, slowing down is just a momentary delay. Whenever a measure increases the safety of construction crews, this is something we are in favour of.”

The MCHA asked the public to go to their website and vote on whether or not there should be photo radar on construction sites when workers are not present.

The vote which took place between Feb 12 and May 13 resulted in 328 yes vote (74.7 per cent) and 111 no votes (25.3 per cent).

The Manitoba Legislature will vote on whether thousands of construction-zone speeding tickets should be refunded before this session ends in early June.

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