The Transportation Ministry and Quebec's provincial police have once again launched their annual highway safety campaign.
"Operation Orange" focuses on drivers who speed through the province's many highway construction zones.
It's a multi-pronged approach, with new mobile photo radar devices being activated throughout Quebec on Thursday, and more police officers conducting speed traps on highways for the rest of the summer.
Jason Allard of the Sureté du Quebec said the message to slow down is a simple one, but not easily grasped by drivers in Quebec.
Within the first hour of launching Operation Orange, police caught eight drivers violating the Highway Safety Code on the Ile Aux Tourtes Bridge.
Most of them were speeding, a couple were using their cell phones, and one driver was not wearing a seatbelt.
"It's not only their speed. We have speeding, we have people who are texting, we have people who are following too close," said Allard.
Operation Orange was first launched 15 years ago, and over that time police have seen a gradual decrease in the number of tickets they hand out each year, as well as a drop in the number of crashes by summer drivers.
Allard said the primary concern, however, remains the safety of construction workers, many of whom will be working despite the two-week holiday.
"There's still 20 percent that will be working out here in the field, and that's their co-workers basically that they'll be passing by, and we're asking them to slow down."
In a final bit of warning, Allard wanted to remind drivers that fines for driving offenses in construction zones are doubled, although the number of demerits handed out remains the same.
Quebec's construction holiday starts on Saturday July 23.
