Roads can be dangerous places – and for none more so than the men and women who construct them and the various safety features that reduce the risk for all road users.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was their safety which was in focus at the VicRoads Northern Regional Contractors Safety Forum, held in Bendigo yesterday.
VicRoads regional director Mal Kersting said despite the bright signage and flashing lights road workers rely on to stand out to passing motorists, two road work vehicles had been hit by other vehicles on the Calder Freeway in the past 18 months.
“Where we’ve had line marking being undertaken on roads there are a number of safety vehicles that operate in platoon, including some with very bright messaging and warning signs, but for whatever reason we’ve had a number of incidents where vehicles have just driven into the back of those line marking vehicles,” he said.
Mr Kersting said delegates at the forum heard about a number of safety innovations which would help protect road workers, including a “mobile attenuator” to absorb the force of a crash when drivers failed to stop.
“This mobile attenuator is certainly one means of being able to improve safety and it does its job very well,” he said.
“So if someone’s not paying attention for whatever reason and still runs into the lead vehicle in that convoy – if they’re using this type of vehicle on that job – the energy of the crash will be absorbed, which means the impact on the driver and the risk to the people in that convoy will be reduced.”
Despite the risks, Mr Kersting said safety for road workers was a top priority – and improving.
“If we see something that we don’t think is being done in accordance with the safety measures that we require, we will stop work,” he said.
“Now we know the number of times we’ve been required to do that in the last 12 months is half of what we did in the preceding year, so a lot of our safety improvements and a lot of the safety measures we’re talking about at these types of forums are working.”
More than 140 industry, business and government representatives were in attendance.