New provincial rules designed to better protect emergency workers on Alberta highways and roads are both needed and welcome.
Whether drivers here and elsewhere in the province will heed the advice to make the safety of the roadside workers a higher priority remains to be seen.
What is known is that with hundreds of injuries reported every year involving emergency roadside responders hit by passing vehicles, more should and must be done to rectify the troubling situation.
Starting next month drivers in the closest lane to any roadside worker vehicle stopped at the side of the road with its lights flashing must slow down to 60 kilometres an hour or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower.
Under current legislation, tow truck drivers and first responders are protected under the Traffic Safety Act. The changes announced last week will protect all roadside workers with flashing lights activated.
“We want to protect our police, paramedics, maintenance workers and tow truck drivers so they can get home safely at the end of the day,” said Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen, who is the minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors.
“These people proudly serve Alberta, and we want to make sure we look out for them.”
The new rules apply to highway maintenance workers, snowplow operators, as well as tow truck crews and first responders.
Violators will face fines of $243 and three demerit points for failing to slow down to 60 kilometres an hour or the maximum speed limit -- whichever is lower -- when passing stopped roadside workers.
The same penalties apply for failing to allow other drivers to move into a traffic lane farther from a stopped emergency, tow truck or roadside work vehicle; the fine for unsafe passing of a snowplow is now $324 and three demerit points.
These new fines and demerits will hopefully deter any and all drivers who may consider recklessly speeding past roadside responders.
With hundreds of injuries involving workers struck by vehicles reported in Alberta every year, wouldn't it make sense to have the new rules apply to all lanes at emergency scenes?
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
