My best wishes to the flagman. Why can’t folks slow down?

“Police say speed does not appear to have been a factor.”

Really?

It would have been interesting to see exactly how this happened.

“failed to follow or note the directions of the flagman”

Miscommunication ….. the way some brandish their duel-sided signs around that does not surprise me. I have had that confusing happen to me recently where I has to ask myself whether he/she was signaling to me or the oncoming traffic.

That was in a very short construction area where one flagperson was handling traffic in both directions whenever a construction vehicle was entering a construction site adjacent to the road. There was still two lane traffic, but one of the two lanes was closed for only a minute or so.

It did not look like a proper/normal traffic control configuration to me.

I was heading east last Tuesday, there where signs all over the place explaining we were approaching the construction zone.. I began to slow down and two idiots, one in a big ford truck another in a mustang passed me and both had to slam on their brakes to avoid hitting the flag person.. What was the rush? Why risk your life and others to gain 5 seconds..

Gus, I understand that some people may not hold their sign to your liking. However I can’t think of a way that anyone could hold a sign that would confuse a driver into hitting that person.

Many flag people are very confusing and many of them lack the skills required to do the job safely for everyone. Just because one was hit doesn’t mean they weren’t partly to blame.

findme …. it has nothing to do with my liking or anyone else’s liking.

For starters, we do not know the situation specific to this incident. I merely pointed out that I was recently in a situation which was confusing to me.

Number one thing we have to remember, flagpersons are humans, just as drivers are. Humans are not infallible. They make mistakes which should result in the determination that it was human error. The question is whose human error was it? The flagperson? The supervisor who set up a potentially unsafe situation? The driver? Or perhaps it was a mechanical cause.

As I said, this could have been a haul road, which is the situation I recently encountered. In that case the rule is that if the truck makes a right hand turn onto a two direction highway, only one flagperson is required in some jurisdictions. Having one flagperson with one sign with a “slow” on one side and a “stop” may not be the most ideal situation in two way traffic.

Remember, any flagperson book should tell the person not to stand in the line of traffic. In other words, do not stand in traffic with the sign to stop and expect that you will not be hit. The driver could mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake. Happens often enough when people drive through a store window, etc.

We simply do not know, do we????? I have made no assumptions unlike others on here. That is sort of the norm. So I do not know why the attack ….. well, actually I do, because most people already know who is at fault. Those of you that do will never make good investigators.

No matter how a flagperson holds a sign, they should never be in the line of traffic and drivers should be cautious not to hit a flagperson who may accidentally lose their footing as they move from one spot to another.

We often think of frivers fot slipping off the brake and hitting the gas pedal ….. however, how often does someone think of a flagperson losing their footing on a construction site with imperfect footing?

Think … think … think … it is why we were given that grey mass inside our heads.

Less you had a medical condition that caused you to be passed out slumped over the wheel there is no reasonable excuse to hit a flag person who is regulated to wear so much high viz that they almost glow in the daylight. Having worked flagging and road construction I can say some people just drive like idiots and do not take into consideration those working closely beside traffic. When going threw construction sites slow to the posted limit or even less and always be on the look out as someone may step out from behind a machine, a truck might pull out any number of things. These people are out there working for all of us to help improve the roads we use, it is the least we all can do making sure they all get home safe to their families at the end of the day.

It’s true that some flaggers lack the survival instinct, just an opinion, but there are no excuses for running over one of them. These days there is usually plenty of signage warning of a controlled section of road, if a driver lacks the skill to remain alert for the entire journey they have undertaken, he or she should not be on the road.
Best wishes to the injured party.
metalman.

The most dangerous drivers today are seniors.Check all the accidents and how many are over age 65. Note the driver was 76. They have to start giving cognitive tests to seniors. Alot of them aren’t understanding whats going on around them.

Strange ,if Senior are such bad Driver, why is there a big discount in the Rates at 65?
Lets just hope that some of you when turning
65 are nor driving any more, taken from your Comments. Never been past by a Senior on a double Solid Line or in a Work Zone ! Alot of the younger Driver don’t see whats going on, just for them selves , get out off my Way I’am in a Hurry!
Remember we all are getting older.so think about it will hit you to. Will you be the First do turn your Licence in ?

If you get confused by a flag person. You probably shouldn’t be driving in the first place. Or stop if your confused and clarify the situation. Not too hard of a concept!!

I have been through 3 zones this week that show a construction zone but do not indicate that there are flag people working. So how many of you have seen these signs , slowed down for several kms only to find out there is no one working. I am not making any excuses for the driver, but the signage seems to be getting worse, and lots of times the signage that is there is left up when there is no work
Used to be that all sites with flag people indicated that there were flag people working.Not anymore.

I have been driving though this construction everyday and those flag persons are constantly standing in a spot that you can not see them until you were upon them. I had said they were being unsafe, shouldn’t they stand where you can see them no matter what? Nope, not confused just couldn’t see and then had to take detour yesterday. Maybe more training is needed. Hope the flagman is going to be o.k..

I’m over 65 years old , never been in a accident , good health . I’d be happy to take a driving test. I think everyone over 60 years should take a test every 3 years..maybe every year. I know one thing..i don’t want to run over anyone. Bottom line, if i cant pass a test , than take my licence.

Instead of focusing on an age group, why not when renewing your license have a mandatory driving test? Merging, changing lanes, parking, 4-way stops, etc. Has anyone else here sat in a parking lot for even 10 minutes and watch people try to park their vehicles? It can be entertaining and somewhat scary at the same time.

“Strange ,if Senior are such bad Driver, why is there a big discount in the Rates at 65?”

That is very strange ….. I have not had a crash in over 20 or even 30 years. A 19 year old can’t brag like that. … LOL

Get maximum discount of 40% or so.

The insurance companies must rig the stats, right Outwest?? ….. ;-)

“So how many of you have seen these signs , slowed down for several kms only to find out there is no one working”

I have been driving south many times recently. The worst for that is the section between 100 mile house and clinton. There are two stretches which had signs up all winter when there was no construction going on. I can understand one because they left a 20 cm or so drop from pavement top repared gravel adjacent without a shoulder. They had pilons and redcued speed to 80km, if I remember correctly. The other was a level gravel shoulder.

Semi-truckers flew through at 100km+ eventually then they finally cahnged the signs onthe latter.

Then thereare places where the first sign of contruction zone is covered up, maybe even a speed limit sign … and then suddently it seems they forgot to cover the rest up.

Shoddy!!!!! Unsafe!!!!!! why? Contractors …. as well as long haul truckers.

“Used to be that all sites with flag people indicated that there were flag people working.Not anymore.”

Exactly …. now there may be flagpersons woking …. or there may not be. Or there ay be surveyors working, or there may not be …… or ditch mowers … or there may be crows eating roadkill on the side of the road ……

How are people who are texting (the 19 year olds but not the 76 year olds … ) ever going to be able to notice all those things ……

My mother is 88. Needs to take a test every year or every second year in Ontario. Has probably never been in an accident in 60 or so years. Will just drive to the “corner” shopping centre, if that. People take her in their or her car if she needs to go somewhere about once a week, if that. This is the last time she will get a license.

The main concern with older drivers is the gradual loss of peripheral vision. Cannot vary far from 180 degrees without turning head or moving eyes.

Parking cars???? has anyone noticed the number of cars with the plastic bumpers having an indent in them on one or both sides? …. poor parking skills … lousy bumpers …. !!!!

Heading east this construction zone had poor signage. I got passed by a number of vehicles just past Sunkit dip, and that sharp corner just after the straight stretch is where the signage starts almost on top of the construction zone. Should be a warning of construction ahead (it is a dotted passing straight stretch after all). The signage shouldn’t be once one is into the corner. They got people passing before the corner and then slamming their brakes on for stopped traffic once in the corner. Its poor planning IMO.

Like the sawmill explosions, lets wait for more than a year for Worksafe BC to investigate and find out what happened and why it happened.

Then when the investigation report into this workplace accident it is finally finished maybe the government can find some excuse to keep it secret from the public?

Like the likely cause of the explosions WASN’T the employers’ fault, perhaps? In an era where every accident, in any workplace, is supposed to be. In the interests of ‘political correctness’, that is, (particularly with an election looming, and then a by-election to be won.)