After the province announced that starting on September 1, drivers in the lane closest to any roadside worker vehicle stopped at the side of the road with its lights flashing must slow down to 60 km/h, some are saying that the legislation is not what was initially discussed.

Vice President of Advocacy and Operations at the Alberta Motor Association, Jeff Kasbrick, underlined that Bill 5 ( The Traffic Safety Amendment Act) initially required motorists to slow down to 60 km/h or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower, in all lanes travelling in the same direction on multi-lane highways; and slow down to 60 km/h or the posted speed limit, whichever is lower, when travelling in either direction on single lane highways. The bill also enumerated that it would extend safe passing protections for roadside workers to include snowplow operators and roadside maintenance teams

However, the province walked back those stipulations back on Tuesday, announcing that only drivers in the lane closest to any roadside worker vehicle stopped at the side of the road with its lights flashing must slow down to 60 km/h. The new regulations also stipulate that drivers must also move over to the far lane if it’s safe to do so and 'take reasonable steps to allow other drivers to move over as well'.

Kasbrick noted that while the AMA welcomes the news that the legislation expands the framework to include additional roadside workers; since current laws encompass only tow truck drivers and first responders and the new laws will extend to all roadside workers, he said the requirements that were announced may create more risk.

"Unfortunately, the requirements now for vehicles to move over, if it's safe to do so; the safety benefit of that is either negated if not made worse, by having to move into full speed lanes, that creates a significant speed differential," he said. "We just want to avoid circumstances where we have a vehicle that is potentially going at 60 kilometres an hour, moving into a high-speed lane at 110 kilometres an hour and having the vehicle brush up against them."

Bill 5 was passed in the Alberta Legislature in the Spring of 2022 and was meant to go into effect in the Spring of this year, however, the province announced a halt to the changes, saying that they needed more time to reach out to stakeholders and engage with the public by ways of educational campaigns. However, Kasbrick said that there had already been extensive engagement on key elements of the legislation.

"Since that point in time, we have been very regularly engaged with Alberta Transportation, because we've been very committed to ensuring as smooth and implementation of these important roadside changes as possible. Unfortunately, it was only very recently that we learned that these important provisions were going to be left out of the announcement," Kasbrick said. "It's an incredibly disappointing experience because safety is an all too real subject for us."

During a press conference announcing the changes, Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors, called the legislation a 'common sense change' and one that is standardized.

"We want to make sure that the rules are the same; whether it's blue lights, red lights, yellow lights, or amber lights, if you see workers working on the side of the road, slow down to 60 or move over," Minister Dreeshan added.

Kasbrick also worries that the messaging has not been clear enough.

"The signs that actually are posted across the province from Alberta transportation with the banner that the framework is coming in on [September 1] actually say slow down and move over. What was announced yesterday was to slow down or move over. The signage in and of itself is not even consistent with what it is that we heard in yesterday's announcement."

Kabrick said that since December 2019, there have been 18, serious roadside incidents and at least 39 near misses involving Alberta tow trucks, and passing vehicles.

"This is a very significant and very real and very critical issue for us. It's not only for those that work at the roadside, it's also for the operators that they're responding to as well. What we would hope is that those passing by would just take a little bit of extra time to just slow down and safely pass a roadside scene, and not create an already distressing situation."

According to the province, those who do not abide by the new laws come September 1 can face hefty fines, including: 

  • $243 and three demerit points for failing to slow down to the maximum speed limit when passing stopped roadside workers.

  • $243 fine and three demerit points for failing to allow other drivers to move into a traffic lane farther from a stopped emergency vehicle, tow truck or roadside work vehicle.

  • A fine of $324 and three demerit points for unsafe passing of snowplows.

"I think the message would be that there are Albertans, that are very dedicated and passionate, and that are working at the side of the road. We owe it to ourselves as we're passing by to make sure that we're doing so safely. We also owe it to those that are either working or stranded at the roadside as well," Kasbrick concluded. 

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