LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – More than half of Nevada construction workers do not feel safe in their work zones, according to an Associate General Contractors of America survey. Most blamed speeding for why they felt unsafe.
“They’ve got a concrete barrier, a hard hat and some steel toed boots to protect them against a car moving at 60,70, 80 miles an hour,” added Nevada Chapter of the AGC’s Government Affairs Director Alexis Motarex.
Data from the organization found there were 2,024 crashes in 2023. This made up about four percent of all crashes, hurting nearly 200 construction workers and killing 6.
Now there is a push to get drivers to slow down with Assembly Bill 402. Introduced by District 3’s State Assemblymember Selena Torres-Fossett, the bill would allow temporary speed cameras in active work zones while workers are present.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe,” Assemblymember Torres-Fossett explained. “We’re not talking about people speeding by and nobody’s around in the middle of the night. We are talking about individuals who are working on these construction zones at three in the morning, four in the morning, before most of us get up to go to work. People are speeding by and jeopardizing their lives.”
Some fear the speed cameras would invade a driver’s privacy while in their own cars.
“We are trying to address a privacy issue by taking just a picture of the license plate and not of the driver and any passengers in the car,” Motarex said. “it is entirely in the driver’s control to not get a citation when you’re driving through a work zone by simply obeying the posted work zone speed limit.”
A police officer would have to review the speed camera’s footage before issuing the citation.
“We don’t want to see people get cited for speeding and construction zones. In a perfect world, nobody would be cited for speeding in a construction zone, but the reality is we know that this is an issue,” Assemblymember Torres-Fossett said.
Motarex said the fine would be the same as if a police officer pulled over a speeding driver and gave them a ticket.
“This isn’t any sort of mechanism to generate revenue or trap people. It is just to get them to slow down, observe the construction zone speed limit and save the lives and health of our crews that are out there working,” Motarex continued. “If I saw a sign that said cameras in use, I would slow down and observe the speed limit.”
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