Road Construction Safety
Safety never takes a holiday. It's a key message in this year's road construction safety campaign launched over the weekend by the Department of Transportation and Public Works.
"The campaign is designed to increase awareness around safety as we head into summer," said Transportation and Public Works Minister Clifford Huskilson. "People will be hitting the road to vacation and travel. We want them to watch for construction areas on Nova Scotia's roads and highways, and reduce their driving speed through these sections."
Hundreds of men and women are working on road construction and repaving this summer. The department is spending $53 million on its repaving program alone. Motorists are asked to be patient when approaching construction areas, and to take cues from the traffic control people on site.
Mike MacIsaac, a representative of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) workers at Transportation and Public Works, said, "Our people go through very specialized training. They know how to manage traffic in these construction areas so that everybody is safe."
He said, "Sometimes, people think they can manage at higher speeds, but they don't realize the unexpected things that can happen in a construction area."
D.J. Campbell, president of the Nova Scotia Road Builders Association agreed. "People have to remember, this is our workplace. This campaign is a reminder to everybody to help keep it safe, because our safety, is your safety."
The department is using radio and newspaper ads to bolster its message. As part of the campaign, workers remind motorists approaching road construction sites to use caution, reduce driving speed, obey traffic and safety signs and take cues from traffic control.
"Patience on the part of motorists is important too," said Mr. Huskilson. "We're trying to make the ride a little smoother and we have a very short construction season in Nova Scotia. We must take advantage of the time we have to get this work done, and we want everybody to be safe in the process."