RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – It’s known as “Cone Season” here in Northern Nevada.
As temperatures rise, major road construction projects heat up as well, as there are fewer weather events to slow down the work.
But working on these projects can be dangerous.
And now one southern Nevada law maker wants to place cameras in these zones to capture drivers who speed through them.
“It is important that those workers are safe,” says Assemblymember Selena Torres-Fossett, sponsor of Assembly Bill 402.
Torres-Fossett is sponsoring Assembly Bill 402 as a means to keep those workers safe.
The bill allows for local jurisdiction of the road project to place cameras in the work zones to capture those drivers who speed through road construction sites.
The resulting picture will be examined by law enforcement to determine if there’s enough evidence to issue a citation.
If the answer is yes, a citation will be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle.
“This piece of legislation will ensure that individuals that are driving, that are driving recklessly or driving too fast will have to slow down says Torres-Fossett.
Torres-Fossett says construction workers will have to be on scene for the cameras to be operational.
The decision to place those cameras in construction zones wouldn’t be automatic…rather at the discretion of local jurisdiction overseeing the project.
The bill specifically says the recorded image will not reveal the face of the driver, or passenger. Instead, the car’s plates will determine where the citation should be sent.
“AB 402 does allow the driver to state they were not the one driving the vehicle at the time,” says Torres-Fossett. “If it was stolen then it would be dismissed automatically in the piece of legislation. However, if the individual had a friend or somebody else, they would have to provide the information with the name and the address of the individual that was driving that vehicle to ensure that the citation is still issued.”
The citation, if issued, would not be considered a moving violation, rather a civil infraction so no demerits would appear on the driver’s record.
This type of infraction would be different than if a law enforcement officer in a work zone catches a driver speeding, ignoring a flagger’s directions, or not following lane shifts. Such penalties can be doubled in terms of fines, jail time, or community service.
Assembly Bill 402 will first be heard in the Assembly Growth and Infrastructure Committee.
But no date has been set yet.
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