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Do they actually offer any benefits other than additional employment?
I just crawled through one on my way to work.
4 people on site.
one sitting in a deckchair operating the traffic lights at one end
one driving the buggy
one digging a hole
one sitting in a deckchair operating the traffic lights at the other end.
Am I missing something?
sounds more productive than the French system I saw, Stop/Go boards which were manned but traffic lights so the Stop/Go guys could take a fag break.
I'm guessing it's to keep speed down and they were waiting for something to happen??
It just goes to show that hiring 2 humans is probably cheaper than hiring a set of traffic lights, so you are correct in assuming the benefit is additional employment plus keeping costs down.
they were manually overriding an automatic set of traffic lights...
traffic flow? What price can you put on making sure Jonty's Range Rover Evoque gets to Thurlestone in good time for his [s]golf[/s] err meeting? Difficult for traffic lights even with sensors on to tell if there is one car on one side and 15 on the other and time the lights right.
They probably only had one shovel due to cutbacks.
They have the Stop/Go boards and signage in the van at all times.
They were probably priced into a job 5 years ago so are basically free.
Would you pay to hire traffic lights? They are ridiculously expensive if you can get away without.
That gang probably work together on various jobs, not just the one you saw as they all probably live in the same village and all have specialist abilities. Kerb laying/tarring/pipe laying/block paving etc.
Each man you saw was working so I don't really see what your issue with this is.
The contractor has priced this work and I can assure you in this current economic climate, money is being wasted on this type of work. The profits are so low many are working at cost just to keep their men in work.
Convoys are a necessary evil to stop granny driving into the hole and try and claim the cones did not conform to section 8 of the road traffic act.
I thought the convoy system helped control speed through the road works, making life safer for the workers.
That too, but it's mainly to ensure the traffic go where they should, making it safer for the workers. That's why it has follow me written on the back.
The convoy vehicle is not a requirement for roadworks. It's only used if the risk assessment deems it necessary.