General News
20 April, 2023
Getting familiar with the rules around roadworks
There’s plenty of roadwork signage around the district as projects get underway and washed away roads are patched up — but what are the rules when you encounter roadworks? While some might take the opportunity to continue travelling along...
There’s plenty of roadwork signage around the district as projects get underway and washed away roads are patched up — but what are the rules when you encounter roadworks?
While some might take the opportunity to continue travelling along a road’s usual speed limit if there are no workers on site or at night, according to VicRoads you must stick to the reduced speed limit until you pass a sign showing a different limit.
“Even when nobody is working on the road there can still be dangers from the work underway,” a statement from the VicRoads website says.
Dangers can include narrow lane widths, barriers very close to traffic lanes, deep trenches, loose gravel or humps and drops in the road. Some dangers are also easy to spot during the day, but much harder to see at night.
Goldfields Highway Patrol Sergeant Paul Martin has noticed there can be some confusion between advisory signage and speed restriction signage at roadworks
“The advisory signs are black and white which recommend people slow to a particular speed,” he said.
“You’ll often see them around a section of road with pot holes that have popped up, or something of that nature.They advise there may be an issue ahead and you may need to slow down.
“A lot of people view those as signage which isn’t enforceable by police — which is correct — so you won’t be issued with a speeding ticket for not complying with an advisory sign.
“However, the signs are there to warn drivers, and this is where you’re obligated to drive to the conditions and with due care. If you ignore that sign and then have a collision as a result of driving too fast through that area, that is when offences like careless driving come into play.
“An advisory sign is just that — drivers do need to recognise there’s a reason it’s there, it’s for their own safety and everyone else’s safety.”
Temporary speed restriction signs, however, can be enforced Sgt Martin said, and it can be easy for drivers to incur excessive speeding fines or lose their licence.
“Temporary speed signs around roadworks that are red and white are enforceable [by police]. You must slow to that speed,” he said.
“Those signs do change, sometimes across the course of the day depending if there’s active works occurring or a work zone that’s marked by signage overnight.
“Police often receive complaints of speeding motorists through roadworks by contractors. It’s up to those contract businesses to provide a safe environment for their people to work in, and the way they do that is through signage. It must be respected by road users.
“I would remind drivers — and we often see this — anyone caught exceeding the speed limit by 25 kilometres or more will lose their licence. That’s not hard to do in a roadworks zone where it might be down to 60 or 40 kilometres per hour. It’s very easy to lose your licence in those circumstances.”
Sgt Martin said residents can likely expect to see plenty of roadwork signage around over the winter months and urged everyone to drive to conditions.
“There’s a lot of active roadworks around at the moment, and I think we’ll be stuck with them as we get into the winter months, because it’s harder to repair pot holes and roads in the wet,” he said.
“It gets back to that same message we harp on — people need to drive to the conditions, that may mean literally the surface condition of the road or the environment.
“The roads are changing, sometimes on a daily basis if we get sudden rain then heavy vehicles on them, it’s not uncommon for pot holes to appear very quickly and there may not always be signage to alert drivers.
“Particularly at this time of the year, be cautious on the roads, because they’re not always in a condition that allows you to travel through at the speed limit.
“We also encourage drivers to ensure their headlights are being used during inclement and foggy weather, and in the dark. We’re seeing a lot of cars appearing to have one headlight out.
“That’s something we’ll be targeting heading into winter because the simple action of turning your headlights on and being visible to other drivers is something that could quite easily save your life.”
If drivers to come across unsigned dangerous sections of road, Sgt Martin recommends alerting your local council or VicRoads.
