As a bridge inspector I have a lot less protection from traffic than when construction is ongoing. Having people speeding by my equipment at even 80 raises the stress level quite a bit. Slow down in work zones, no matter the time of day
Nice to see another bridge inspector here WV! I have no sympathy for harsh dealings with violations in work zones. Unoccupied or not. It's a conditioning thing. If people blast through one that's not active and get a way with it, they'll blast through an active one until they get caught. Hi-vis vests and such are not PPE, they're targets.
I was up on a lift truck platform doing a damage inspection under an I-80 overpass bridge going right through the middle of Cheyenne one afternoon. Traffic control had been set up for no less than 5 hours and everyone was playing nicely until some idiot tried to beat a semi though the cone taper. Didn't work and he ran into the back of our truck doing about 55. Big pucker factor when you hear cones being thumped over and you can't do a thing about it. Passenger door ripped off and hung up on our outrigger. Totaled his car. We didn't get hurt luckily, just shaken around a bit. Then I was pissed.
When we get down out of the basket to see if this guy is ok, the first thing he says is his wife is gonna be pissed that he wrecked her car. He and his partner were both stoned to the bone. I started walking towards him to give him a piece of my mind and a few co-workers were there to get me away from the idiot. Probably a good thing. The patrolman who was the lead investigator came up to us a while later and said " Don't worry, I'll make sure he gets his due". I never did hear what the end result was.
That is just one instance in the 30 years I've been doing this job. There are a lot of times when I just have my truck parked off the shoulder at the end of a bridge with the flashers and whoopy lights on too. Rarely will anybody slow down or even move over to the opposite lane.
Save it for the track and slow the heck down! We like going home to our families at the end of a day too.
