RCMP warn against speeding in road work zones

New Brunswick RCMP have issued 75 speeding tickets in road construction zones this year.

Corp. Chantal Farrah said drivers must slow down before someone is injured.

A New Brunswick woman was struck and killed while working as a flag person on a Saskatchewan road construction site last week. Ashley Dawn Richards, 18, of Lakeville died after she was hit by an SUV. 

Farrah said it could happen in New Brunswick, too, if drivers do not slow down.

"Think about the importance of slowing down to ensure everyone's safety; to ensure [the safety of] those who are working in those construction zones — the mothers, the daughters and fathers, the sons — that they're safe and that they're going to go back home after their day of work," she said.

'Make the fines heavy'

Tom McGinn, executive director of the New Brunswick Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association, said there shouldn't be any warnings for speeding driver — just tickets.

"To me, the only way that we're going to get them to slow down is through increased enforcement with the RCMP. Instead of giving warnings, you ticket them. And make the fines heavy," he said.

According to the Department of Transportation, about one quarter of New Brunswick drivers have admitted to speeding through construction zones.