Slow down in construction Zones

[riptides]

Really sad.

On the VA Northbound I-95 corridor there is a saftey zone clearly marked between maybe a ten mile stretch of exits.
The corridor is suppose to be heavily patrolled with stiff fines, etc. etc. There are numerous pieces of marketing this "zone" to the public. Signs, radio, etc. etc.

I travel this "Stretch" daily, in the morning you are lucky if you can keep up with the traffic, at 80MPH.

The commercial ends with something like this "Loose the agression".

People may do that, but at 80MPH? Right.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bandit67]

I've seen everything out here - reading, working on the laptop, applying makeup, yakking on the phone (I do that, but I tend to drift in and out of the conversation because I focus more on the road).

But the most interesting thing I've ever seen was two girls doing 65 mph down the highway, SMOKING A JOINT. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Mustn't have been very good stuff, cause if it was, they would have been doing about 25 mph. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[johnday]

Brian; You could be right about the hands free setup. Even that would be a vast improvement for safety. With the hands free it would seem to be more like talking to whoever else is in the vehicle. But we all know there are people that should never attempt to multitask. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Were there any children on the bus???? Around these parts, if a school bus is involved in any type of accident, no matter how insignificant, the State Police Accident Reconstruction Team will immediately respond and determine the cause of the accident. Most )</font>

Yep.. 20 of them.. And yes.. you would have thought the national guard had showed up.

The bus actually clipped the end of the pan, and then side swiped it, coming to rest just beyond the pan. More or less just sheet metal damage to the bus, a headlamp assembly and mirror, and well, all the windows on that side were broken.

The had all the kids lined up on the ground.. neck braces and all.. trauma team, every fire engine/fire rescue vehicle inthe county.

Only injury was one brusied elbow, and one girl did actually get some glas in her eye ( ended up OK ).

Our vehicle was parked inthe R/W, and was flagged/coned. The bus actually had to run about 3' off the road, and over a 6" windrow to hit our pan. Bus driver was cited for the accident. County offered to repaint our pan, but we declined.. it was only scratched.. and it was gonna get alot more scratches.. etc.

Work on that road job round to a halt for the day after that happened.. no thru traffic for about 6 hours..

Soundguy

 

[Taylortractornut]

Soundguy back in the mid 80's dad worked for Wright Brothers Construction out of Chattanooga TN Dad was escortsing a friend of his on a 657 double barrel pan and a van tried to pass on the exit ramp on the machines blind side. At the time dads friend Red was easing off to the shoulder and pinched the van about 3 times and then let it get up the the fron wheel where the tired to pick the van up and throw it upside down till dad could get Red stopped. Dad and Red both said that the van was a panel van econoline and it was in an hour glass configuration with 2 motorccles in the back, probably stolen the way they asked no cops be called or the way the left.
A few years ago when Bag phones were popular a couple had one talking to some folks and ran past an escort truck and hit a state sweeper cleaning up loose material at the intersection killing the sweeper operator. When I drive one of the roll off trucks at work I hate to have a flat or break down on one of the shoulders here folks wont even move over anymore. My favorite or scariest driver was a teenage girl that had a Mitsubishi eclipse and was passing my friends tow truck I was helping him that day and about that time the girl past us talking wion the phone and gesturing with the free hand. ahead ther car zipped around flipped upsiode down and slid backwards on the roof. when we got there she was still strapped in upside down feeling the roof of the car for her cell phone and wasnt worried about further injury. My brother is an accident investigastor and says that 98 percent of the accidents that they have that involve trucks tractors and construction equipment and pedestrians invovles a cell phone nowadays.

 

[Junkman]

I remember back in 1962 when I was working in a body shop, a car came in that the rear quarter panels and trunk lid were flattened by one of those big earth moving dump trucks. Traffic stopped and the driver of the dump truck didn't see the stopped car and drove over the rear section. We cut it in half and replaced the rear section with one from a car that was hit in the front. That was back when cars had frames and were easy to repair. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[MikePA]

I'm still trying to figure out under what circumstances I'd find myself on my tractor driving through a construction zone...at any speed. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

P.S.
Safety Forum - For the general discussion of tractor safety.

 

[Taylortractornut]

I drive through them every day almost on a tractor lol. really I do

 

[thcri]

"Give them a Brake". Yes, cell phones, laptops and make up sure distracts everyone. In Minnesota they started ticketing people for using cell phone while driving. The cell companies couldn't keep up with the sales for installing the hands free devices. But Minnesota stopped ticketing people so now the hands free device isn't so necessary anymore.

Howeve, "Give them a Brake" is the sign you see so many places along with fines double in construction zones. There is two things that tick me off, 1 The highway patrol that sits at one end of the zone thinking he is slowing cars down while he is only slowing them for that particular area. They should drive back and forth with the traffic since they are running the cars anyway. Times you will see 3 patrols sitting at one end talking and no one pays any attention to them. If they would drive up and down the zone it would force everyone to drive with them at the slower speed. The 2nd thing that ticks me off is the construction trucks driving as fast as they are. Just a few days ago on Hwy 52 which is now at 55mph a truck passed me on a bypass that was 45 and I admit I more than likely stayed at 50 or 55 but this semi when through this bypass which is also marked no passing and he had to be doing 70. I don't think they have the right to drive that fast and the highway patrols just watched him. OK I vented. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

murph

 

[Jagmandave]

Yeah, on a similar note...........what is up with semi's these days? Used to be they stayed in the right lane(s) and you could get around them, now they spend as much or more time in the left lane, and more times than not they're going 75-80 mph! A loaded semi riding someone's bumper at 80 mph is a scary thing to me!

One other point. The longer a constrution zone is there the less people pay attention to the speed restrictions, they become accustomed to it as part of their everyday route and just don't slow down anymore.........