Signs are there for a reason

I’m Heather Jennings, Construction Manager at the Syracuse Area Office. Whether it’s a highway
construction or maintenance project, keeping the workers and the traveling public safe is a priority.

Workers and equipment are always moving, coming or going within a traffic control zone. A while back, I was the lead inspector on a mill and overlay project in Ness County that also included the expansion of the shoulders from 3 feet to 6 feet.

One day, I was running density tests away from the other workers or equipment when I watched three vehicles east of my position pull up to an intersection and stop. This intersection had a “Wait For Pilot Car” sign properly mounted and clearly visible to the motorists approaching it.

Then I looked to the west and watched as the pilot car and vehicle line traveling east through the traffic control zone line passed me and the three vehicles waiting at the intersection.

I wasn’t very happy when I then watched those three vehicles proceed to turn west after the final vehicle in that line had passed them going east. Not only did I have rogue vehicles in an active construction zone with no escort, but now they were coming in my direction.

I put a hand up to stop the first rogue vehicle so I could have a conversation with the driver. I asked him if he had seen the sign advising him to wait for the pilot car. The driver said he had; however, he knew it was safe because the pilot car and traffic had gone the opposite direction of where he wanted to go.

I educated the driver that knowing where the pilot car was didn’t allow drivers to enter an active construction zone. We use traffic control for a reason. There are milling/asphalt trucks coming and going throughout the construction zone, not to mention the multiple construction pickups that are traveling throughout the construction site. Employees are moving from place to place, equipment to equipment, running tests for the project as well as other needed activities.  

This driver said he was headed home from a funeral service. The only thing I could think of in that moment was that - if he had just come from a funeral, how dare he endanger those of us in the road working? We all have someone or something to make it home for - whether it’s a kid, spouse, dog or cat - it doesn’t matter. We have people we love and who love us too.

Long story short, it is not safe to run a Wait For Pilot Car sign. The sign is in place to help protect the traveling public as well as those of us who are actively working on the road. We work to get the job done safely and efficiently. Please follow the signs and show respect to the people out there in the work zones.

                                                            (Photos above show Heather Jennings with her daughter and son.)