Speeding in Construction Zones

[knees scrapin']

I have been brewing over this issue for the last few weeks. This includes all construction zones but ever since deerfoot south by Douglas Dale has been switched from 100 to 70 speeding in this area has really got me upset.

People that speed with undo care thru these areas should be pulled over, licence cut up and made to walk home.
If anyone has ever worked road construction they will understand this rant. It is percarious when working in these areas to be hit by even road debri. Let alone trying to concentrate onwork when cars are passing you at 100k, 5 feet from you.

We all use these roads for commuting, traveling or plesure, someone has to maintain and upgrade them.
Have repsect for there working environment.

[88CRX]

thats strage.... i have never seen anyone actually working at that site.

[GTS Jeff]

I always slow the fuck down for construction zones no matter how much I speed elsewhere. Double fine yo!

I don't get when other people don't even let off at all for construction zones.

[infected]

They should bring back the signs of the little kids and the big bold statement "My dad works here"

[SJC]

People should slow down, but if they took a tip from BC and put covers over the construction signs when there's nobody working people would pay more attention.

It's a matter of people becoming desensitized...

[youngbex]

yea, if i see people working i slow down, if its after hours and no one is on site working why slow down?

[Seanith]

Originally posted by 88CRX
thats strage.... i have never seen anyone actually working at that site.

Seems like its always like 5 guys standing around "shootin' the shit". :rolleyes:

Regardless, everyone should follow the posted limits.

[cman]

i always get tailgated like its going out of style on crowchild to and from work every morning because i got 60 instead of 80.
if im having a bad day, somebody is going to be buying me a new back end and paying for some medical bills:guns:

[tapout]

Originally posted by Seanith


Seems like its always like 5 guys standing around "shootin' the shit". :rolleyes:

Regardless, everyone should follow the posted limits. thats fuckin true:thumbsdow

[ryder_23]

I for one havnt worked construction, but changing a tire on hwy 1, with cars wissing by at 140+, i feel for what they have to put up with. Such a small, simple courtesy, that can go a long way, is going 20k(or whatever it is difference) slower that big of a deal.

[BlackArcher101]

Here here!

I've worked construction zones for a while.... and was also in charge of the signage. If you think signs should only be displayed when you see someone physically working, then you are mistaken. Signs are there to also protect the public from dangers that you may not be directly aware of. Such as a deep hole close to a lane, or lane width restrictions. It's even worse at night when you can't see these dangers, and people think that because it's nighttime and no one is working, that they shouldn't have to slow down. Morons.

If no one is working at a jobsite, legally the flagperson signs must be covered up or taken down.... and other signs can remain there as long as there are dangers.

I enjoyed flagging, as I could copy the plate down and have the RCMP visit you the next day at home. :D

Numerous times have I thanked god for not taking my life when flagging. Ever have a car bearing down on you full with teenage girls going 100 km/h, knowing you have to stop them somehow or they will hit your work crew? I ended up throwing my stop sign at their windshield, cracking it, and jumping out of the way at the last minute while giving warning to my crew at the same time. The car ended up stopping short, but not my much. I've personally known 3 people that were in the same situations, but did not get out of the way in time :( .

What pisses me off the most when confronted for speeding, is when they say "What signs, I didn't see any signs". Hey dumbass, it's the bright orange signs that have bright fluorescent flags waving above them.... can't miss em.... Or I love it when you try stopping someone and they say "You could have given me more warning!", uh dumbass... those signs about 1km back said the speed limit was 50km/h, no 100... thanks a lot. They shut right up when you tell em that.

Rant done... to all you assholes that don't slow down in a construction zone, from start to finish... :guns:

[FiveFreshFish]

70 km/h feels a lot faster to the worker than it does to the driver.

[ken-gsr]

Originally posted by Seanith


Seems like its always like 5 guys standing around "shootin' the shit". :rolleyes:

Regardless, everyone should follow the posted limits.

haha, you know that they are city workers, when one guy is digging and 5 others are watching

[Aleks]

The one on Deerfoot by Southland drive is dumb. Noone is ever there at nite and there are no lane restrictions, or anything anywhere near the road. Come to think of it there isn't any equipment there either whenever I drive by. I don't slow down because if i did i would get rearended.

If you're gonna work during the day fine, I'll go 70 but after 11PM am why are the signs still up? No equipment, no workers. :bullshit:

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Aleks
The one on Deerfoot by Southland drive is dumb. Noone is ever there at nite and there are no lane restrictions, or anything anywhere near the road. Come to think of it there isn't any equipment there either whenever I drive by. I don't slow down because if i did i would get rearended.

If you're gonna work during the day fine, I'll go 70 but after 11PM am why are the signs still up? No equipment, no workers. :bullshit:

I haven't driven through there in a while... but has the road been changed at all from the original? Have the lane markings been moved for a detour? Are there any lanes that are cut off and merging?

You can think whatever you want, but the fact that there are no workers does not mean the construction zone suddenly disappears. :rolleyes:

[sputnik]

The 70 zone on Deerfoot between the Southland and Bow Bottom interchanges is actually a major part of the problem.

I drive through there every day and for whatever reason the speed limit was decreased without any visible construction or lane restrictions. As a result people continue driving 100+ through it. Unfortunately many people continue at 100 after the bridge in and into the construction at the Douglasdale interchange.

Before that additional 70 zone was added, people were much more careful to slow down as they approached the constuction zone south of the bridge. There were also quite a few more laser traps in that area earlier in the construction phase. I think more cops would be a welcome addition to that area to nail the people that constantly tailgate people like me who chose to drive 70-75 and speed past at well over 100.

[SJC]

The problem is everything here in Alberta is done like a shicky-shack small town. Look at places like California, which has the population of Canada in the size of BC and you'll start to see things that are a bit better thought out as far as traffic is concerned.

For example, they do all construction between 9pm and 5am, overnight so that daytime traffic flow isn't disrupted...rush hour will naturally slow traffic in construction zones, so then they have the workers out at night and overall the speeds are normalized.

Combine this with second generation traffic calming and you have solutions that work - with many multiples of the number of people we have here - which is something you can't say about traditional enforcement. We don't have enough police for our population NOW, nevermind as we continue our growth spurt.

So you can continue to defend the system, saying the people are "morons"...but quite simply, there are better ways.

[Aleks]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101


I haven't driven through there in a while... but has the road been changed at all from the original? Have the lane markings been moved for a detour? Are there any lanes that are cut off and merging?

You can think whatever you want, but the fact that there are no workers does not mean the construction zone suddenly disappears. :rolleyes:

Yeah man I totally respect the legit construction areas like the one in douglassdale. I do the limit and am extra carefull, but the one by southland seems to be some sort of mix up! There is nothing, I mean nothing to hint anything is happening there.

[M_Power]

I noticed today that all it takes is an example driver and everyone else slows down. Today in the southland construction zone i moved to the middle lane and slowed to 70, and than every car around me began to slow down too.

I think most people see that noone else is slowing down and proceed to follow the flow of traffic.

[civic_stylez]

every time the police enforce the speed limit in that construction zone in douglasdale they always have like 5 people pulled over...i had a guy the other day honking at me to speed up and i was doing 75..some people never learn!!! the speed traps will get them in the end!

[Sorath]

i hardly see them working on deerfoot, but anyhow if ur caught, double fines suck

[ninjak84]

Originally posted by Aleks
The one on Deerfoot by Southland drive is dumb. Noone is ever there at nite and there are no lane restrictions, or anything anywhere near the road. Come to think of it there isn't any equipment there either whenever I drive by. I don't slow down because if i did i would get rearended.

Watch yourself in that area. Random photo radar every few days.

[PGTze]

I agree some people are dinks about ripping through construction zones. The most dangerous ones are where the workers are like 10 feet away from traffic with just a couple of pilons to protect them lol. Just slow down, no ticket, and everyone is a whole lot safer.

To the point about 5 guys standing around doing nothing, I've never really worked in a contruction zone for an extended period, or know a whole lot about what actually goes on, but I think constuction workers sometimes get a bad rap just because it appears as though they are doing nothing for a bit. If you think about your own job, I'm sure that whether you sit at a desk or work outside or whatever the case may be, you're probably not constatly working. I'm sure that important things actually do need to be discused in legth to make sure the job gets done properly, and this can sometimes be viewed as slacking off doing nothing. I'm not to defend every consturuction workers actions or anything, I'm just saying give them a break because they do have a tough job to do. Just think about how fast some massive projects get done, there has to be alot of hard work put in there by someone, right?:dunno:

[cman]

i agree with PGTze, i bet if i were to go to the thread were everybody was boasting about how slack there job isand how often they do fuck all, i would find half you guys bragging about slacking off on the worksite.
dont single out and bitch at construction workers, they slack off, i slack off, and we all know you slack off too.

[Supa Dexta]

I find if one car slows down and switches lanes in this town, it causes MASS confusion, suddenly everyone is on the brakes hard! crossing lanes left and right.. and everyone seems to have lost it.. like oh shit, must be something wrong in this lane, that guys getting out of it?... quick quick bail out of this lane..! As if they're goign to fall off the earth in that lane, then more and more follow until traffic is basically stopped and theres cars crossways in lanes and everything.. It's incredible.... Amazes me everytime I see it, which is far too often...

As for the construction same deal.. If one person slows down everyone does, if one sneaks by and speeds up, the others follow and all hell breaks loose yet again....

:nut:

[Moonracer]

Originally posted by Aleks


Yeah man I totally respect the legit construction areas like the one in douglassdale. I do the limit and am extra carefull, but the one by southland seems to be some sort of mix up! There is nothing, I mean nothing to hint anything is happening there.

:werd: I slow down in legit construction zones but the one on deerfoot just north of the douglasdale interchange is total :bullshit: There must be about 2km of a 70k zone where there is absolutely nothing going on there. There are no dangers and no changes on the road. It doesn't make any sense and if you try to do 70 there you will be nearly causing accidents from people lane changing around you all pissed off and shit. :banghead:

[superbird]

I just have to say... I drive for my job the majority of the day. There is so much freaking construction in this city... Every road I go on there's always something being down and it appears that nothing is ever being actually worked on...

I would say, it'd be better to concentrate on one jobsite get it done, then move onto the next. Then maybe it wouldn't take forever to get things done...

As for the "take down speed limit changes after 11pm or when workers go home..." I agree, sometimes theres things that create the need to make us slow down. The thing I don't understand is when the construction is finished and nothings been done to the site but the limit stays at 70. Like when they finished 130th ave and McKenzie overpasses, for the longest time the limit was still set to 70 instead of going to 100... If they had their way, would be 70 from Glenmore to the city limits.. which is a huge pain in the ass seeing as how Deerfoot is actually the only way to get from north calgary to south calgary.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Aleks


Yeah man I totally respect the legit construction areas like the one in douglassdale. I do the limit and am extra carefull, but the one by southland seems to be some sort of mix up! There is nothing, I mean nothing to hint anything is happening there.

Interesting, sounds odd then. High truck/construction traffic during the day? :dunno:

[Moonracer]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101


Interesting, sounds odd then. High truck/construction traffic during the day? :dunno:

Nope there's nothing at all. :dunno:

[Seanith]

Originally posted by superbird

Then maybe it wouldn't take forever to get things done...



Just like Macleod trail by the turnoff to Canyon Meadows drive. WTF is up with that? They started it last year, and didn't finish it over the winter. That road has been fucked for too long. :thumbsdow

[nismodrifter]

wurd to that, that set of bumpz0rs is owning me every single freakin day...

[crazydave]

Originally posted by Seanith


Just like Macleod trail by the turnoff to Canyon Meadows drive. WTF is up with that? They started it last year, and didn't finish it over the winter. That road has been fucked for too long. :thumbsdow
:werd: it pisses me off everytime cuz i dont want to scrape:dunno: :thumbsdow

[DSM Power]

Originally posted by sputnik
The 70 zone on Deerfoot between the Southland and Bow Bottom interchanges is actually a major part of the problem.

I drive through there every day and for whatever reason the speed limit was decreased without any visible construction or lane restrictions.
The reason there's construction signs is because they are installing new bases for the bigger signage & sign poles that will be going up. Take a look at the bigger signs at the south end of Deerfoot to see what I mean. So, they put some temporary concrete barriers along the center of the Deerfoot median to install these new bases. I agree that it SUCKS to have to do 70 through there but that's why. :banghead:

As for the Douglasdale construction, I am sick and tired of being tailgated and passed through there. Yeah I don't want to slow down either but FFS people there's a reason to. The cops are there all the time pulling people over for not slowing down - you'd think it would sink in by now. :dunno:

[mx73someday]

If the police treated speeding as the horrible crime they say it is, then that Douglasdale construction zone is a prime example of civil disobediance left unenforced. Where else have you seen hundreds of people committing the same crime in the same place each day?

Someone should call 911 or the city should call in the armed forces because it's out of control, if it were any other crime being committed by that many people in the same place they would take it more seriously. It's dangerous to do 70 when you have 100 vehicles directly behind you all trying to do 100. Like someone else said: an officer could meet his/her monthly quota in an hour there.

It just goes to show that speeding isn't really a crime if the police only want to enforce it whenever they feel like they want to make some money. (BTW-I'm also strictly against speeding in any construction zone).

[autosm]

Originally posted by M_Power
I noticed today that all it takes is an example driver and everyone else slows down. Today in the southland construction zone i moved to the middle lane and slowed to 70, and than every car around me began to slow down too.

I think most people see that noone else is slowing down and proceed to follow the flow of traffic. They are worried that if they pass you they will get the ticket or they missed somthing you saw. LOL Nothing funnier than some one passing you only to be pulled over for speeding ticket.