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Changes to Alberta’s Traffic Safety Act will take effect Sept. 1, 2023. And, while they mean drivers will have to slow down when passing all roadside workers, they apply only to the closest lane of traffic, not all lanes of traffic, which is what the province had previously said it was planning for.
Starting in September, drivers in the lane closest to any roadside worker vehicle stopped on the side of the road with lights flashing must reduce their travelling speed to 60 km/h or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower. Drivers must also move over to the far lane if it’s safe and reasonably allow other drivers to move over too.
Previously, only first responders and tow truck drivers were protected under the Traffic Safety Act. It will now apply to all roadside workers, including police, fire, EMS, tow truck operators, highway maintenance workers and snowplow operators.
However, when the government initially announced the changes to Bill 5, they were set to include requirements that drivers in all lanes going in the same direction slow down.
Those changes were supposed to come into effect March 1, 2023, but the province delayed their implementation.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said the lane requirement was changed to just one lane because it made more sense.
“When there’s two or three semis between you and that roadside worker, how is everybody in five lanes going to magically slow down to 60 km/h while you’re passing that roadside worker?
“A common sense change of: if you’re right beside the workers on the side of the road, you’re going 60 km/h or whatever the posted speed limit is, if it’s lower. But in this case, everybody else can go 110 (km/h) in lanes two, three, four and five on Highway 2, but right beside where the workers are working, they’ll go down to 60 km/h.”
The initial proposal also saw fines for passing an emergency vehicle on the side of the road doubling.
Members of the transportation industry, including the Alberta Motor Association (AMA), have been pushing for the province to expand the highway safety rules for years.
The AMA did not attend Tuesday’s news conference and said it is upset about the ministry’s decision to change the original plan.
When the change takes effect Sept. 1, fines and demerits ($243 or $324 and three demerit points) will be applied “for unsafe behaviours when passing roadside workers and snowplows,” the province said in a news release Tuesday.
Until now, Alberta was one of only two provinces without so-called “move over” legislation.
“These new measures will undoubtedly protect our highway maintenance and snowplow crews,” said Fred Desjarlais, president and CEO of Volker Stevin Canada.
“Slowing down when passing roadside workers will be a minor impact on drivers that has a tremendous effect on the safety of our workforce.
“No matter the season, our crews strive to get the travelling public home safely, and these changes ensure our crews will get home safely too.”
“While we provide training to employees so they can work safely around traffic, we rely on drivers to do their part to slow and make space for workers and machinery,” said Ronald Glen, CEO of the Alberta Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association.
“ARHCA thanks all members of the legislature who supported Bill 5 for their concern for our employees’ lives.”
Between 2014 and 2018, there were 2,229 injuries involving workers being struck by a vehicle, according to Alberta’s Workers’ Compensation Board (WCB).
Between March 2018 and March 2021, there were approximately 130 collisions involving snowplows contracted by Transportation and Economic Corridors.
During the winter of 2022-23, there were 37 collisions involving a government-contracted snowplow.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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