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Department of Transport and Main Roads

Safety around roadworks and roadworkers

Safety around roadworks and roadworkers

When you're driving through roadworks, it’s important to consider roadworkers and to obey the speed signs. Somebody's family member – a partner, parent or a child – is working in these dangerous environments and like you, they want to get home safely too. 

Even if you don't see workers onsite it’s still important to obey the speed signs. Workers may be above, below or beside the road outside of your field of vision. There are other reasons for reducing your speed and driving safely around roadworks like construction vehicles manoeuvring into or out of the site, changed road conditions such as temporary road surfaces, changes to the road alignment or debris near the road.   

Slowing down to 40 km/h for 1km will take 20 seconds from your day. What's 20 seconds really worth to you, and importantly, to others around you? To improve speed compliance through roadworks, TMR has worked with the Queensland Police Service to deploy mobile speed cameras. Both the Gateway Upgrade North and Pacific Motorway Varsity Lakes to Tugun projects have had a mobile, trailer-based speed cameras on site to encourage road users to stick to the speed limit.

Visit our road conditions page for more information on roadworks signage, hazards and how to report roadwork issues.

Keeping roadworkers safe

Patience is key to keeping roadworkers safe. 

Working next to a major highway or road, only metres away from fast moving vehicles, is dangerous work. It is impossible to overstate the importance of safety for roadside workers who are our family, friends and colleagues. 

Check out these StreetSmarts videos to hear from roadworkers on what it's really like working on our roads:

Visit our StreetSmarts page to learn more about road safety behaviours and being smarter on our roads.

Current construction program

Queensland's current road infrastructure program is the largest in the state's history. With hundreds of projects in construction or planned to keep our state moving and connected, it’s important to know what to do when driving through a work site and how to respect roadworkers so everyone gets home safely.

 
Last updated 20 December 2022