Slowing down for road workers

Every day there are people working on or around our roads to make them safer for us. It's important that you slow down and give space to workers to avoid putting them at risk of injury or death.

We all deserve to get home safely, so when you see road works, slow down, give them a wave and only speed up after you have passed through the works and signage indicates it's safe to speed up.

Drive to the posted speed limit

It is law to slow down to the posted speed limit when passing other roadside workers. Road work speed limits are designed to keep both drivers and road workers safe.

Reduced speed limits are in place around road works and while there are people working along the road side. You may see temporary speed signs showing lower speed limits when approaching roadworks or other works that are being undertaken. You need to slow to the temporary limit for all works including those being undertaken by council workers or when people are conducting repairs to infrastructure and powerlines.

When you are approaching any works you need to take note of the posted speed limit and slow down safely. You need to continue driving within the reduced speed limit until you pass a sign showing a different speed limit.

Even when nobody is working on the road there can still be dangers from the work underway.

These dangers can include:

• Narrow lane widths
• Barriers very close to traffic lanes
• Deep trenches
• Loose gravel on the road
• Soft road surfaces, or
• Humps and drops in the road

Some dangers are easy to spot during the day, but much harder to see at night.  A lower posted speed limit gives you more time to see the danger and avoid a crash.