Am I the only one who hates these things? Why have a set of traffic lights that your not trusted to drive past on green, that some scruffy gimp in a rented Vauxhall van has to guide you through at walking pace when the speed limit through the works is signed at 30mph? Whilst being “escorted” through some on the A44 near Blockley yesterday a labourer took exception to me flattening a traffic cone he threw into the road without looking.
I agree, they are a pain in the arse and completely surplus to requirements.
I’ve often wondered if you could make a case for the scruffy gimp in the vauxhall to be prosecuted under Section 3 of the road traffic act, specifically Driving Without Reasonable Consideration for other persons using the road or place, one of the specific conditions for this is “Driving unnecessarily slowly” or “braking unnecessarily”. 
another whining thread 
, you will find its because joe public cannot be trusted to stop at red and wait, convoy systems are usually used for long stretch,s of road works where the traffic lights cannot give a long enough red or green time 60 sec,s max on most , and its simple to understand what chaos would ensue with traffic when people choose to ignore them 
Muckaway you do seem to hate a lot of things. Try lightening up a little. It’ll make you feel better in the long run.
The purpose of it is to prevent you doing too much damage to the layabouts leaning on their shovels as you pass them.
Most convoy systems i have been through have been on quite narrow tight stretches of road where anything but walking pace would be too much.
yeah they are a pain in the arse but cause most idiots treat temporary traffic lights like they dont exist or the red light doesn’t apply to them then its obviously necessary to use the convoy system to protect the workforce and everybody else from themselves as everyone is an idiot unless proven otherwise!!!
switchlogic:
Muckaway you do seem to hate a lot of things. Try lightening up a little. It’ll make you feel better in the long run.
I like beer, but that’s not an option in this line of work. I also like letting my colleagues overtake me so I don’t have to go back for an extra load. I also liked the fact I had to wait an hour and a half earlier to get tipped; paid to sleep, nice.
Bikemonkey:
Most convoy systems i have been through have been on quite narrow tight stretches of road where anything but walking pace would be too much.
yeah they are a pain in the arse but cause most idiots treat temporary traffic lights like they dont exist or the red light doesn’t apply to them then its obviously necessary to use the convoy system to protect the workforce and everybody else from themselves as everyone is an idiot unless proven otherwise!!!
I’d use the term “workforce” very lightly where the ones I saw yesterday are concerned…Unless working means sat in the minibus drinking tea and ■■■ spotting in the Sun/Sport.
Its becuase of both idiotic car AND lorry drivers not slowing down at the point where the road gang are working. I work on roadworks and have seen many close shaves whilst im sat inside the “safety” of a line of a cones.
But hey ho I guess your lost 10 seconds of life caused by the delay is more important than the life of a road worker!!!
Tarmac even have a vehicle proof plastic barrier 
msgyorkie:
Its becuase of both idiotic car AND lorry drivers not slowing down at the point where the road gang are working. I work on roadworks and have seen many close shaves whilst im sat inside the “safety” of a line of a cones.But hey ho I guess your lost 10 seconds of life caused by the delay is more important than the life of a road worker!!!
10 mins actually and the road was perfectly wide enough to pass safely at 20-25 mph and that was with a lorry. Even with braindead throwing a cone infront of me.
for temporary traffic lights to work efficiently they need to be set on V/A vehicle actuation , the little sensors on top of the light sense traffic movement and change the lights , so if you have a red time of 15 seconds and a green time of 45 on traffic head A , but there is no traffic it will change to red and let the other side go early , but if on fixed time ,then thats it wait for 45 mins even if no traffic is coming
the problem arises with V/A when people jump the lights , the other side will go green , traffic can,t move ,due to red light jumpers so it sense,s no movement and returns them to red , so up the red time to allow for these idiots ,but then people get the hump having to wait so long , this mostly happens around rush hour ,so we either set them to fixed time , or do them manually for this period
d4c24a:
for temporary traffic lights to work efficiently they need to be set on V/A vehicle actuation , the little sensors on top of the light sense traffic movement and change the lights , so if you have a red time of 15 seconds and a green time of 45 on traffic head A , but there is no traffic it will change to red and let the other side go early , but if on fixed time ,then thats it wait for 45 mins even if no traffic is coming
the problem arises with V/A when people jump the lights , the other side will go green , traffic can,t move ,due to red light jumpers so it sense,s no movement and returns them to red , so up the red time to allow for these idiots ,but then people get the hump having to wait so long , this mostly happens around rush hour ,so we either set them to fixed time , or do them manually for this period
They are like sheep, one driver has jumped the lights so it will be ok if the rest do it, they will just tell the copper ‘well the driver in front did it…’
Just plow on and make them park up in the actual roadworks to let you past, if they give you abuse just tell em to go to specsavers for a colour blindness test.
bubsy06:
They are like sheep, one driver has jumped the lights so it will be ok if the rest do it, they will just tell the copper ‘well the driver in front did it…’
Just plow on and make them park up in the actual roadworks to let you past, if they give you abuse just tell em to go to specsavers for a colour blindness test.
its the ones who come from 3-4 cars back while the others are pulling up to queue at the wait here board that get me
i have a few times been waiting to come out of the cones with the jcb and enjoy watching them come to a quick stop and have to select reverse
Funniest time was when i was waiting at the red, the convoy vehicle was approaching me, he pulled in to let everyone crack on, the woman behind him followed him into the coned off area she then had to wait for everyone to pass before she could pull out.
These annoy me too.There was one on the A34 south near Chieveley early this morning.
Just after midnight we sat there for nearly 15 minutes.
Seems to me they enjoy there little bit of power.
bubsy06:
Funniest time was when i was waiting at the red, the convoy vehicle was approaching me, he pulled in to let everyone crack on, the woman behind him followed him into the coned off area
This used to occour regularly when on Motorway Resurfacing jobs, you would slow right down with all the beacons flashing and when you pulled into the works access there would be a little Fiesta or similar following you in. 
Best part was watching them trying to negotiate across the ripped up carriageway and over trenches etc to get back on track again!
I think that convoy systems work well to be honest, you certainly felt a lot safer when working on site and at least they could hold the traffic back while you were trying to negotiate your truck out of the access points instead of trying to get out between light changes, you always had some pillock jumping them and k*ackering the job up.
Pete.
The best I have seen is stop/go boards at night with a JCB with lights blazing, immediately past board, blinding me.
I’ve once broken down in the Roadwork Section of M1 just after Junction with A5 on the Hill up Northbound.
was 3 hour long in the traffic news 
))))
Arrived at Pallux when all other had left already with all Forklift for me alone.
Just
during they unloaded started theres Supervisor already loading till he got confused as every Pallet he put on the Trailer got by the next Forklift unloaded again.
So he put a Cable roll on the trailer and waited to find out whats next.
Well,another Forklift arrived and took it back.
So,Now he stopped everything,gave some advise and 10 min later was Trailer loaded.
Was one Hour ealrier back then usual.
But it does not mean you shall break down.It just has taken some Memories alight
d4c24a:
bubsy06:
They are like sheep, one driver has jumped the lights so it will be ok if the rest do it, they will just tell the copper ‘well the driver in front did it…’
Just plow on and make them park up in the actual roadworks to let you past, if they give you abuse just tell em to go to specsavers for a colour blindness test.its the ones who come from 3-4 cars back while the others are pulling up to queue at the wait here board that get me
i have a few times been waiting to come out of the cones with the jcb and enjoy watching them come to a quick stop and have to select reverse
I’ve had this shunting out of roadworks, if the banksman says nowt I keep goin until car driver gets the message.