Appalling behavior

[unixronin]

Boston police threatened to arrest a traffic flagger at a construction site for doing her job, then later denied it had happened.

The tension has been simmering since October 2008, when Massachusetts became one of the last states in the nation to allow civilian flaggers to work at construction sites.  In the weeks after the law was passed, police in some communities taunted civilian flaggers at construction sites.  In Woburn, for example, where the first civilian flagger was used, 50 off-duty officers shouted down a union-represented civilian flagger, calling him a “scab’’ and “pathetic.’’

And we're expected to respect the police.

Comments

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

I'm unclear what a "flagger" actually does apart from risk life and limb by not being a concrete barrier.

In Europe flaggers are pretty rare and never ever police. Large lumps of conrete generally do a better job of ensuring that traffic goes around the workers and if some driver isn't paying attention you don't have to scrape the flagger off the road.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

At least in Maine, the flagger is usually in charge of alternating traffic on a narrow lane, coordinating by hand-held radio with the other end of the construction zone. Concrete barriers don't communicate as well.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Flaggers are there to do things a concrete barrier can't do, such as stop traffic when a construction vehicle is about to enter or leave the construction area, or to safely control alternating-direction traffic flow on a section of road that's reduced to one lane when there's no practical alternate route.

[masgramondou.livejournal.com]

In Europe we use traffic lights for alternate traffic flow mostly. These days they mostly have a motion/object sensor to determine whether there is anyone waiting.

Flaggers are really there for very very short duration events such as letting a truck in/out or perhaps something like fixing a streetlight which takes a few minutes and just requires traffic to maneuver around a parked vehicle.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Traffic-sensing signals are still extremely rare in the US. They cost more. :p

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And they don't recognize bicycles . . .

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

or motorcycles, usually.