Bow Island construction zones becoming ‘unsafe’

An ongoing problem for three to four years has appeared to have risen again in Bow Island.
The town’s construction zones have become hazardous to the town’s workers as drivers are disobeying the detour signs and driving around the barricades, nearly hitting crew members who are either working on the roads or fixing a water main break.
“What we do is when we have any sites that we have any construction work or worksite that is for any of us, we set up different traffic control devices barricades, signs or anything like that to try and keep all the public out and keep our workers safe,” said the town’s bylaw officer and safety advisor Jason Schreiber.
“The problem we were having is some residents felt the need to drive their vehicles around our barricades and through our construction site and that was causing a major safety concern for our workers. We’re moving equipment around and moving everybody around in there and if somebody comes zipping through there in their vehicle and we don’t see them, some of our workers could potentially get injured or killed on site because of somebody’s impatience of trying to get through there.
“I don’t believe it’s a case of understanding. I think it’s carelessness of them trying to get from Point A to Point B and they feel they can drive right around the barricades.”
Pedestrians have also been asked to leave the site for disregarding the signage.
“We even try to keep the pedestrians out because they disregarded some of our barricades and our tape,” he said.
“They haven’t filled out any of the hazard assessment forms that they do and they weren’t included in the safety orientation before we even started working.”
The town’s safety department has been working on an education program and letting people know by giving them a warning.
“Throughout the winter with certain snow clearing routes, our water breaks specifically, it just seems the warnings are not getting out,” said Schreiber.
“People were still disobeying the traffic control devices and driving around them.
Schreiber says the town has met with Bow Island RCMP Staff Sgt., Neil Bailey and he advised them that if a crew member can take a picture or write down the license plate number and turn in the information, then the person will be prosecuted accordingly.
Town working crews are proactively trying to establish a better perimeter or limiting traffic to prevent accidents.
There have been no accidents reported.

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