Practice patience during “orange cone season”
The orange cones are coming, ready or not.
Repairs and improvements to our local roads are just necessary parts of our lives. The work should be welcome – it is, after all, done to keep us safe and maintain what’s there. However, the appearance of “Road Work Ahead” signs causes consternation for many a motorist.
We tend to live in a world of rushing; annoyed when lines at the store are too long, responses to text messages or phone calls aren’t timely enough, or the GPS doesn’t take us on the shortest possible route from one place to another.
People want things to happen quickly. Now. Yesterday. But definitely not 10 minutes later than anticipated.
Road work and orange cones mean slowing down; maybe even sitting still, and perhaps that’s what we all need.
As the state Department of Transportation and other municipal workers begin their yearly work, why not view the inevitable road delays as a welcome break in the day or an opportunity to practice patience.
The workers would probably appreciate not only a smile and a wave (as opposed to a nasty stare), but also the attention that a more relaxed driver will pay to safety.
Jay Ofsanik, safety press officer for PennDOT District 12, said from 2013 to 2017, there were 99 fatalities in work-zone vehicle accidents across the state. Of those fatalities, 10 were PennDOT employees.
When motorists head into a work zone, they’re surrounded by pedestrians. The vests and hard hats that workers wear don’t offer some sort of magic protection from a vehicle, Ofsanik noted.
Not using construction delays to check texts or emails or surf the web should also be a no brainer.
While the law precludes text or email checking and web surfing for drivers at any time, Ofsanik said PennDOT asks drivers to put the phone totally down while in a work zone. “If no other time, please put the phone down when entering a work zone. This is the one place where you aren’t going to have extra time to react if you’re not looking at traffic,” he said.
PennDOT also recommends doubling the space typically left between vehicles and paying rapt attention to the posted work zone speed limit.
Choosing not to do the latter can have pretty serious consequences. Motorists who are driving 11 mph or more above the posted limit in an active work zone or those involved in a crash who are convicted of driving at an unsafe speed face a 15-day license suspension. Active work zones are designated by a sign and white flashing light that will only be one when the zone is active.
The state also doubles fines for speeding, driving under the influence or failure to obey traffic control devices in active work zones.
Frustration over getting to your destination late isn’t worth any of the potential consequences for rushing.
Be patient.