Cda Legislator’s Bill To Protect Road Workers

Anyone caught speeding through a road construction site would be forced to pay a double fine under a bill introduced Thursday.

Rep. Don Pischner, R-Coeur d’Alene, proposed the idea in his first piece of legislation in the House Transportation and Defense Committee.

His bill would double the fine for speeding through posted construction areas. Pischner stressed that the zones where the double fine would be applicable would have to be clearly marked.

Said Pischner, “I’m not doing this for the workers only, but for the public. It’s certainly for safety.”

Pischner has a personal interest in this bill. He owns an asphalt company and has “spent (his) life in construction on the highway.” He said he had witnessed three fatal accidents, but one in particular affected him.

Sandy Albright, a flagger and friend of Pischner, was killed by a speeding car on a highway construction site in 1978. “She was well-known to my crew … a single mom just trying to get ahead in life.”

, DataTimes