Imagine this: You’re driving down the freeway at 110km/h, and you see a 'roadwork ahead sign' and a speed limit that gradually gets lower and lower until you reach 40km/h.
You’re now doing 40km/h, but cars and trucks are rushing past you, still doing over 100km/h. You finally pass the 'end roadwork' sign and you realise that you never actually passed any roadworks in the first place.
I’m unsure if this affects all states and territories in Australia, but it certainly plagues the roads of New South Wales to the point where you question whether or not roadworks are ever being done.
The problem, in my opinion, lies with a lack of repercussions for the businesses who set out the signs.
It’s not just me, either. A quick search on Reddit proves that it’s becoming more common, with some users even stating they’ve seen signs left out for more than two years.
“I drive on the M2 during my commute and a recent roadwork section prompted some questions I’ve had for a while. This section of road got roadwork speed limits put up about a week ago lowering the limit from 100 [km/h] to 80 [km/h]," said one user in a post.
"For the first couple of days, most people obeyed the new speed limit, but after that, everyone went back to doing 100 [km/h] because there was nothing there. Including myself because it’s dangerous to drive significantly slower than the flow of traffic.”
“I’ve seen signs left on non-major roads for ages – longest I’ve seen is two years,” said another user.
“The speed and quality of roadworks in Sydney is a joke. There’s no enforcement or accountability of the contractors who fleece the taxpayer for wads of money. It’s hard to put a figure on the number of hours people have lost due to slow and inefficient roadwork,” said another.
Every single person has a valid argument. On the one hand, you’ve got people who are terrified of being caught by a Highway Patrol car because no matter if any roadworks are being done, it’s still breaking the speed limit.
Then those same people are sitting below the speed limit for way too long because they may have missed the tiny 'end roadworks' sign. Since nothing is being done, it can be difficult to see where exactly the speed limit goes back up.
You know what? Even though it’s my pet peeve to be stuck behind someone doing well below the speed limit, I don’t even blame them.
Say you hit a stretch of road that’s 110km/h. Roadwork signs lower the limit to 60km/h. Even if no roadworks are being done and you speed up to 110km/h before you see the 'end roadworks' sign, your licence is gone.
Doing 45km/h over the speed limit is a $3300 fine, a minimum six months disqualification from driving, a court appearance, and even the possibility of having your car/licence plates impounded.
Tell me how it’s fair that someone can lose a part of their livelihood just because someone can’t be bothered to pack up the signs?
On the other hand, you’ve got people who are so accustomed to never seeing any roadworks being done that they just blast through a roadworks section. More often than not, they never actually pass any work being done, but there is the odd chance they endanger workers by not slowing down.
Dangers, confusion, and just plain inconvenience are just some of the issues that these signs cause, so what’s being done about it?
Well, South Australia is currently the only jurisdiction that fines companies for leaving roadworks signs out, and that only came into effect in April 2021.
The fine is laughable: just $1250 to the company for not adhering to regulation 11B of the South Australia Road Traffic Amendment Act: “An authority, body or person that has placed speed limit signs on a road must ensure that the speed limit signs are not in place on the road during any period during which workers are not engaged at the work area”.
There was a brief period when there was talk of raising the fine to $20,000, but the traffic management companies had a sook, saying it was too much for smaller contractors.
The interesting thing is that South Australia seems to be the only location with comprehensive legislation surrounding what contractors can and cannot do with their traffic signs.
After spending hours scouring state legislation, I could not find anything that actually outlines what these subcontractors need to do with their signage.
In fact, it became such an issue that in South Australia, the legislation says that if no work is being conducted, then the original speed limit is in play.
"If subsection 11B is not complied with in relation to any speed limit signs the speed limit signs are of no effect for the purposes of this Act or any other Act or law during the period of non-compliance.”
I suppose it’s more of a grey area because the last thing you want is people speeding through an active work site thinking it’s not in use. But it just goes to show that even the state government is fed up with this problem.
There is talk about using digital signs that are turned off when roadworks are not being conducted. While I think it’s a great idea, can companies seriously not handle picking up some cones and signs?
Never in my life would I find myself asking the government for another fine, but for the sake of everyone’s time, safety, and licence, it’s time to start cracking down on this problem.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
