Road crews are out and active in the area. It’s that time of year.
With that in mind, Public Works and Facilities Manager for the City of Winkler Cliff Wall is asking drivers to be alert, patient, and proactive in keeping everyone safe.
“I would say just everybody wants to go home safely… I think it's everybody's responsibility, whether it's the workers that are doing the work or people driving or pedestrians,” said Wall.
To help make that possible, Wall shared several simple ways residents can reduce risk and keep traffic moving when passing through or near active construction sites:
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When approaching road work zones:
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Use an alternate route whenever possible. “Choosing another road can decrease the number of vehicles passing through the work zones and it lessens the risk of accidents,” Wall said. “It just makes it more difficult to maneuver effectively and efficiently” when roads are tight with equipment and workers.
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Slow down and drive smoothly. “Reducing speed would be a big one,” he said. “Just driving in a controlled, smooth manner to avoid sudden braking… just keeping it slow and paying attention.”
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Follow all posted signs and flaggers. “Try to follow the directions that it's giving you and when there are flaggers, they're like trying to maintain eye contact with them,” Wall advised. “Even if they're singling you to maybe turn a direction that you maybe hadn't expected… that may actually have to happen just because of whatever is going on.”
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Report any unsafe conditions. “If there are maybe some unsafe conditions or there's missing signs or something like that… let the authorities know,” he said. “Sometimes, even the construction people doing the work may not necessarily know that a sign is missing. It may have blown over in the wind.”
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Don’t walk into an active construction site. “We've had instances where… somebody's called and said, you know, we were in this area and we just noticed that there was no signage.” Wall said. In those cases, the city can relay the issue to a supervisor to address quickly.
Wall said the city appreciates the public’s cooperation as work continues throughout the season. “We all want to get home at the end of the day,” he said. “Just do your part to make everything work or run smoothly.”