During the summer months, construction signs and pylons in Saskatoon are hard to miss, but some drivers are ignoring them.

"Motorists are choosing to ignore the barriers and the signs and are driving through the construction zones," said Pat Hyde, manager of the City of Saskatoon's public works branch.

That is creating dangerous situations for both workers at the sites and the drivers, including one case Hyde said almost ended very badly.

"It was on the Sid Buckwold Bridge and we had a motorist who was driving through the cordoned-off area at high speeds and just narrowly missed the workers."

That motorist was charged with driving without due care and attention and fined $280.

Hyde pointed out that it shouldn't only be the fine that stops people from ignoring barriers, but also the safety risk.

"(The construction zone) is to protect the motorist because you don't know what you're going to be driving into. It could be a hole in the ground that you may not see or an obstacle in your path or of course it could be a piece of equipment or worse it could be a human being standing there."

According to Hyde, the problem of drivers ignoring construction barriers has been growing for the past six years and this summer is no exception.

"This summer seems to be the worst of many," he said.

Hyde thinks with the growing size of the city, there are more cars on the road which could be causing some drivers to take chances to save time.

However, he said it isn't worth it.

"Drivers really need to adhere to what the warning signs are saying and stay out of those zones and take the extra few seconds it takes to make the appropriate maneuvers away from that."

tburdeniuk@rawlco.com

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