Question about road construction...

[Ronin13]

It's that time of year, yes, Spring has ended and we're now in the most dreaded season for driving- Construction! First let me drop the big warning: THIS IS NOT A COP BASHING THREAD. Okay, that's out of the way, onto my big wonder... You see it all over if you're driving- I saw it last night- it's impossible to miss, road work. Usually these areas are accompanied with yellow flashing lights, cones, guys standing around with their thumbs in places thumbs probably aren't supposed to be while in public (what you do in your own home is your business), and signs that say "FINES DOUBLED!" OOOoooo... But my question is: WTF? Red and blue lights? I understand that the average human being, somewhat sane, potentially rational, will sloooowww down when they see the flashing blueberries and cherries, but two things: 1) Is it legal? Obviously it appears to be since they're doing it, but I'm just curious, I thought a construction worker in a used Caprice with the cop light starter kit is a pretty nice recipe for disaster and/or abuse. And 2) Is this really necessary? I get the reason and rationale behind it, but is there really a huge need? I usually slow down for work zones simple because it's just the safe and nice thing to do, my background working with the county paving crews aside. What do they really acomplish that flashing yellow lights attached to very large vehicles that cause pain, suffering, and extreme damage if run into don't? Can someone fill me in?

[Mtn.man]

You 60k truck
Them 1m worth of heavy equipment

Trusting your life to a 7.00 pr hr sign holder

Dangerous

[Ronin13]

You 60k truck
Them 1m worth of heavy equipment

Trusting your life to a 7.00 pr hr sign holder

Dangerous

I didn't see any sign holders last night on 6th ave... I saw one truck with the lit up <<< sign, two smaller trucks with flashing yellow light bars, and then a Chevy Caprice Retired Police car with a construction worker sitting in the drivers seat that had an LED Code3 (I assume) light bar (Red and blue) flashing... The truck with the <<< sign looked as if it would shred even a Ford F350's front end if they were to violently meet.

[BPTactical]

Well Rony here is the way it is:
Drivers are dumbasses. They are oblivious to cones, flaggers, arrow boards, attenuator(crash trucks), lane markings, workers in lime green or Omaha orange vests, big orange trucks and yellow strobes.
They mean nothing to them.
Night closures multiply the problem 3 fold by higher speeds typically and tired/impaired drivers.
Red and blues on a old cruiser they pay attention to.
It used to be that only certified LE could operate and occupy them but the legislation has been changed and certified traffic control technicians are allowed to operate them. The cost involved with off duty LE is prohibitive.
It has been a few years since I worked a lane closure so they may be under some different regulations now.
After being in lane closures when idiot drivers have come into them I am glad to see red and blues in a taper.
I have had 4 coworkers killed in lane closures since 1991.
The retired cruisers are cheap insurance.

[encorehunter]

I agree with BP. When people see the flashing orange and yellow lights, they could care less if they are flying through at 75mph. When they see blue lights, they think, "oh, crap, I could get a ticket," and slow down. I think it was last year we had a construction worker on top of a paver get killed when a truck hit it. They may be a big piece of equipment, but the workers are still vulnerable on top. This doesn't even include the people that are on foot working near the people driving like idiots through the construction zones.

[BlasterBob]

I know there is a current law here in CO that dictates when you see a cop stopped on the shoulder of the road, with his emergency lights lit up or not, construction truck, a service vehicle or even a disabled personal vehicle on the shoulder, we are supposed to, by law, SLOW down, give them a wide berth and occupy the opposite lane IF at all possible and if that cannot be accomplished, then at least really slow the hell down. Of all the people failing to give the right away to vehicles parked along the shoulder, it seems the vast majority of the offending drivers are (sorry to say it) women drivers. Same thing with entering an Interstate highway. Yes, the traffic already on the Interstate has the right away when we are entering on an entrance ramp but you'd think the traffic already on the highway would get over in the left lane, when possible and practical, if for no other reason than for their own safety or at least courtesy. Sure a bunch of damn dummies driving our roads nowadays.
Finally, I have been driving for the past 61 years and have NEVER had an accident but have received a total of two moving violation tickets in all those years. I have never, in all my years, seen so many people who totally disregard the double yellow line (no passing zones) and STOP signs as I see down here in Trinidad. Seems to be a total disregard for so many basic traffic laws down here. You guys ever get down to Trinidad, better really hone up on your best defensive driving.

[WETWRKS]

Ok...I am not much of a ranted but here goes.

So they come out and rip everything up and put up signs about construction zones and lower the speed limit...and then abandon the site for a good 6 months. No work gets done. None of the equipment moves. No one there even surveying. Nothing. Frankly I begin to suspect this is nothing but an excuse to lower speed limits.

[Ronin13]

BP, well said, like I said, I understand it, and I follow the law- we didn't have cops or cop cars while I was working with the Jeffco paving crew back when I was younger, we pretty much had a really big guy with a slow/stop sign and we all pretty much vowed to stop and beat a driver to death if he got hit by a stupid person.

Ok...I am not much of a ranted but here goes.

So they come out and rip everything up and put up signs about construction zones and lower the speed limit...and then abandon the site for a good 6 months. No work gets done. None of the equipment moves. No one there even surveying. Nothing. Frankly I begin to suspect this is nothing but an excuse to lower speed limits.

Revenue generation. I guess they're not paid by the job but paid by the days they work. I agree with this, and I hate it. They've had 3 projects over by my place since I moved in last Sept! One is the Lakewood lightrail due to be complete in oh about 15 years. The other is more work on a intersection off 6th and Simms that they completed some time ago and are now doing something else on (????). And then another that calls for lane closures but I never see anything being done, or any changes to the scenery... ?

Construction zone rant on:

1) People that see the closed lane signs for a mile and a half, but insist on screaming up the lane that is going to be closed all the way up to the cones, and then barge right into the next lane, thereby absolutely destroying any type of traffic flow, need to be cites, convicted, and vaporized, on the spot.

2) Crews that are working at night on one side of the interstate need to focus their trillion candlepower worklights ON THEIR WORK AREA, not aim them into the eyes of drivers on the opposite side of the highway.

3) Just because there is a lane closure does not mean you should set up lawn chairs and a barbecue grill as you pass through the work zone. Stopping and gawking at the water main break isn't helping to fix it. Move along at a safe speed, and pay fucking attention to the vehicle in front of you, so you don't asshole it and create an even bigger traffic snarl.

4) Work zones should have the ability to jam all cell phone signals within a 250 ft radius.

+1! I like the way you think! It's about 5% construction (and whoever is giving these guys a freaking decade to get the project done) and 95% idiot drivers who aren't considerate, that screw the whole system up!

[encorehunter]

I have never, in all my years, seen so many people who totally disregard the double yellow line (no passing zones).

I saw this yesterday on Main Street right in front of the Police Station. He went around one vehicle to get stuck behind another.

[BlasterBob]

I saw this yesterday on Main Street right in front of the Police Station. He went around one vehicle to get stuck behind another.

Bet he felt really good about the five or six seconds he gained.