By Angela Stelmakowich

Call it a safety flash - or at least that’s the idea.

A coalition of construction groups in Ontario is calling on the province to allow photo radar to be installed at road projects on both provincial highways and municipal roadways.

Photo radar, they say, may be a real life-saver for road workers in orange zones who, all too often, are forced to jockey for a safe position to avoid injury - or worse - because of speeding vehicles. Though much maligned in past, photo radar on highways has achieved a level of public support - two-thirds of those polled - says a 2003 survey from the Canada Safety Council.

The idea is to put the brakes on speeders whose actions are doing little to help reduce the sometimes deadly toll of orange zone collisions. From 1997 through 2004, there were 5,872 injuries as a result of almost 19,000 collisions at highway, road maintenance and construction zones in Ontario. In all, 86 people, including five road construction workers, lost their lives.

Past efforts to convince motorists to lay off the gas - such as doubling fines for speeding in work zones when workers are present - appear to have had little, if any, real effect. The problem rolls on.

The coalition cites an Ontario Ministry of Transportation analysis from 1995, which determined that photo radar brought about a decline in both average speeds and the numbers of speeding vehicles.

Vehicle speed studies, conducted by the Construction Safety Association of Ontario at various construction zones in 2003, showed that 48 per cent of all motorists were exceeding the reduced posted speed limits. And a recent study by the Ontario Road Builders’ Association - based on 1,840 vehicles travelling on Highway 400 from 9 am to 2 pm on a weekday - found that 83 per cent of motorists were exceeding speed limits. About 46 per cent were clocking in at 100 kilometers an hour or more.

Alberta's photo radar guidelines say the tool can help reduce the number of collisions and fatalities on the road when combined with other speed enforcement methods. The criteria that must be met before photo radar is deployed in that province includes the following: where conventional enforcement is unsafe or ineffective; areas have a history of collisions; areas have an identifiable, documented history of speeding problems; and in construction zones.

The idea, the Ontario coalition argues, is not simply to hand out more and more fines for those "captured" in a flash. The objective is deterrence.

The provincial government, however, seems to be giving photo radar a pass, saying the option will not be part of Ontario's plan.

Use of photo radar would represent a big, shaking finger to get motorists on the straight and narrow - or face consequences. But the consequences need to be more than a doubling of fines. They need to be truly stiff penalties, possibly with some potential for relieving motorists of their licenses if they prove to be particularly bad actors.

Ontario recently determined it would be acceptable to take away the licences of high school drops-outs younger than 18. The idea is to keep them in school, hopefully nurturing productive, tax-paying citizens of the future.

Should the life of a road worker be treated any less seriously, or with any less commitment?

If the goal truly is safety, the province needs to step up to the plate and make changes. Sitting on the fence will do little to improve the safety of road workers and motorists alike, and sends the unfortunate message that workers are not worth a little bit of unpopularity in the polls.

Back