Guest Post: Be Fair to Flaggers!

Originally I was going to make a trek down to New York City, but unfortunately the plans fell through due to circumstances beyond my control.

However, I’m still going to go through with providing this guest post from my friend Tom Reale, who works in construction and was recently a flagger in Waterford. And he’d like you people to stop being stupid a**holes. My words, not his.

Tom also blogs about RPI Hockey over at his website Without a Peer, which is required reading for Engineer Enthusiasts.

ENJOY!

-Kevin Marshall

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This flagger (not Tom) wants YOU to slow down!

Here I am, a few credits away from a master’s degree, and what was I doing last week? I was flagging traffic at a construction site. “Summer of Recovery!”

As I interacted with the public at my job site, I realized that there’s a lot people don’t stop to realize about flaggers. A flagger’s job is not easy. You have to be alert at all times. There are rarely any breaks, even to use the bathroom, for 8 to 10 hours, during which you are standing throughout.

Thankfully, 95% of the cars we see in a day proceed without incident. But there are always a few different types of characters who make our days… interesting. For the most part, it’s a good idea to “not be that guy.”

The Lost: “Detour” is a word borrowed from the French, but it should be a word most people are familiar with – it takes you around a closed off road. That doesn’t stop plenty of people every day (more often than not, seasoned citizens) from asking how to get around the blocked area. Detours are always going to be clearly marked, folks, just follow the signs. And no, they aren’t always the best way to get around a work zone, but they’re a way large trucks and small cars alike can get around. It’s not usually a good idea to try to “beat” the detour by finding a better way yourself. And, as an aside, when the sign says “Road Closed,” that does apply to you as well.

The Belligerent: These are the truly dangerous ones – the people who epitomize the term “road rage.” For these angry drivers, flaggers are the enemy, trying to keep them from getting where they’re going. Just this past week I had a “gentleman” get out of his van and promise to “(expletive) me up.” It’s not easy to deal with these folks, because you can’t lose your temper in responding. But where there’s a work zone, the police are usually nearby, and rest assured, we’re going to give them your license plate number. We’re out there for your safety, don’t respond by threatening ours.

The Special People: You’ve been through the work zone two or three times today, or in the last couple of days, so surely, you think, we must know who you are by now. But unless you’ve got an identifying mark on your car – for instance, a gigantic dent in the front end or some kind of trademark – you aren’t standing out from the numerous cars we see even in the span of a single hour. Don’t be surprised if we don’t remember you.

The Minutemen (and women): Quite frequently, especially when working in the middle of a city, we have to close shoulders or put up temporary no parking zones in and around the work zone. These are clearly marked, most often with a visible line of road cones. And yet, there are always a handful of people to whom this parking ban does not apply. Oddly enough, each one of these people always has the same excuse. “I’ll only be a minute!” they claim. For a no parking zone along a detour, it only takes seconds for a tractor-trailer that wouldn’t normally be on that street to get stuck behind your car, and now cars are stuck behind that truck, and we’ve got a mess. But it’s OK. You were only going to be a minute, right?

The Don Juan: OK, this one isn’t one that I personally end up having a problem with, but female flaggers deal with these guys on a daily basis. They’re just trying to earn an living, guys, they don’t need to be harassed on the job. I heard a story one time of a woman being handed a block of wood that a trucker had scrawled “For a good time, call Doug” with his number on it. Really? No shame at all, eh?

We’re all about staying safe – we want our workers to be safe, we want you to be safe, and we want to stay safe ourselves. So in the few seconds in which you’re near us, please, don’t forget these important things:

A flag is a stop sign. This seems to be common sense, but on almost daily there’ll be someone who just decides to blow through a flag (or one of the newer “STOP/SLOW” paddles), which only causes problems for everyone. When you see one pointed in your direction, stop, and wait to be signaled to proceed. Just because a flagger may take his or her eyes off of you doesn’t mean it’s OK to move. We’ve got to keep our head on a swivel and be aware of our surroundings.

We’ve been there too. Every person who flags traffic has been behind the wheel waiting for the guy or gal in orange or green to wave them through before. We know it can get frustrating, and we want to get you moving, but not until it’s safe.

Your being late for work isn’t going to move that dump truck out of the way any faster. If you have to drive through a construction zone on your way into work, leaving earlier is the way to go. We can’t make a special exception for you just because you can usually get through our area in seconds, and now it’s taking minutes.

We’re not from around here. Flaggers go where the work is, and more often than not, the work is somewhere we’ve got to travel for a bit in order to get to. Rarely, we get lucky and get to be close to home, but more commonly, it can turn out to be an hour or two drive just to get to the site. So when you ask how to get to a restaurant or a hardware store nearby, don’t be surprised if we have no idea.

It’s for your safety. Always, always remember that flaggers are just trying to keep you safe as you move through a work zone. The temporary hassle will be worth it in the long run.

Be safe out on the roads, and if you see a flagger, be friendly! They’ll return the favor!

– TOM REALE