Over 100 workers per year die in traffic related accidents on road construction sites (https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/resources/facts_stats.htm). There's a number of reasons for this statistic - some simple and some a little more complex. One of the simpler ways to manage traffic to create the safest worksite possible is through traffic control devices. Temporary traffic control devices along Maintenance of Traffic (MOT) plans are used to design and maintain safe work zones. Despite the danger, awareness of the safe use requirements of traffic control devices can be lacking at times.
Temporary traffic control is the directing or redirecting of vehicular and pedestrian traffic around a work zone. This can be done around any work zone but typically takes place within the public right of way (ROW). The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (https://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/2009r1r2/mutcd2009r1r2edition.pdf) formally defines a traffic control device as “a sign, signal, marking, or other device used to regulate, warn, or guide traffic, placed on, over, or adjacent to a street, highway, private road open to public travel, pedestrian facility, or shared-use path.” In most trailers, everyone who has done road work or simply worked around barricades is an expert on how to use and set them up – until they are asked to do it per the local code and requirements. Once people realize it involves quite a bit of risk in case of an accident, temporary traffic control might fall on a project team member if they have the right certification but most likely it gets subcontracted out at the last second. At this point in time the contractor then gripes about the MUTCD requirements and perceived lack of service from the traffic control sub. No matter how things go on one job, the next job likely repeats a similar pattern of confidence, panic, problem solving, frustration with the solution, then project completion.
If you work in the ROW, plan your traffic control like you would the rest of your safety needs, requirements and tools.
Love the witty sense of humor.