Q: The Highway Traffic Act clearly indicates a speed limit sign must conform to a certain standard, size and colour. In a work zone, what right does a construction company have to put up any size of an orange sign wherever they please, and are they enforceable?
A: Construction zones seem to be just about everywhere these days and no wonder, some of Toronto's most highly travelled thoroughfares were ranked in a recent public survey as being in a terrible state of disrepair. I seem to recall Steeles Avenue being at the top of that list. With the city attempting to affect timely repairs and provide general routine maintenance, motorists need to familiarize themselves with the signage in and around those pesky construction zones.
In Ontario, road signs enforceable by law are noted within various regulations to the Highway Traffic Act. Ontario Regulation 615/94 covers most signage and sets out the design, size and colour(s) to make a road sign legal. Construction zones have always been a safety concern due to the number of workers that have been injured in motor vehicle accidents over the years and by careless drivers who choose to ignore the posted warnings.
The Ministry of Transportation has been working closely with the construction industry to improve safety conditions within work zones and now requires contractors to inform road users of construction with visual signals: signing, lane striping, painted symbols, and road surface messages. Those signals are usually in the form of bright orange signs and fluorescent orange pavement markings. The question is, are they legal?
The Ministry of Transportation views the orange signs as 'temporary condition signs'. As such, they are not listed in anywhere in the regulations, certainly none that I have reviewed, and therefore serve only as an advisory to motorists or a warning that speed needs to be reduced due to unsafe conditions.
While the orange signs may not be traffic act enforceable, a motorist who ignores posted warnings may be subject to a greater liability such a dangerous driving charge under the criminal code and could also be at risk for civil liability.
The Highway Traffic Act does within section 128; set out the parameters of what constitutes an enforceable construction site and determines what signs can legally be posted for a police officer to enforce. The act allows for a person authorized by the ministry to designate any part of a public roadway as a construction zone provided the proper signs marking both the beginning and the end of the construction zone are properly posted for motorists to see.
These signs are rectangular in shape with a reflective white background and black lettering displaying the words: 'CONSTRUCTION ZONE BEGINS (OR ENDS)'.
Once the ministry approved construction zone signs are posted, the municipality or the province may now post a standard speed limit sign to lower the speed within the construction area. That speed limit sign (white background with black numbering), familiar to every driver, is now enforceable under the Highway Traffic Act.
Motorists caught speeding within a properly designated and posted construction zone are subject to fines double that of a normal speeding ticket. Remember, a road construction site is also a workplace. We expect our workplaces to be a safe environment, let's keep that same thought when it comes to roadway construction zones.