What we think: It’s road work season: Travel with care

Talk about it

Now that the sandbags are disappearing from the landscape, there are other signs that life is getting back to a more normal routine: road construction work. So the message we’ve issued before bears repeating: observe speed limits in construction zones and be careful of workers.

From 2001 to 2008 the North Dakota Department of Transportation has reported 15 fatalities in work zones and 639 injuries stemming from work zone crashes. Most happened between May and September, the DOT said. That’s prime road work season, we know.

It’s easy sometimes to be in a hurry. We need to get somewhere and we need to get there on time. We’d like to get there sooner. But that kind of attitude around construction zones is dangerous and we know it.

So plan for traffic delays during the construction season. Plan to leave a little earlier. Expect to have to slow down. Expect to encounter delays.

And expect that workers depend on you to drive safely so they don’t get hurt.

Speeding tickets are at least $80 in road construction zones and can be more depending on the zone. But there’s more at stake here than a hefty fine.

Obey posted traffic speeds and signs in construction zones.

(Editorials are the opinion of Jamestown Sun management and the newspaper’s editorial board)

Tags: what we think, road work, opinion, construction