Common road cones have lost effectiveness
ANY firstyear psychology student could tell you about habituation. This is where something in your environment becomes so familiar that you cease to notice it.
As Hilary Calvert (ODT, 22.3.17) demonstrates, those responsible for temporary traffic management are clearly unaware of this. Orange road cones are now so common they have lost their effectiveness as a safety tool.
Most now simply regard them as a running joke. I do not doubt the sincerity of the road controlling authorities (RCAs) who impose strong safety rules for road works sites.
However, a privatelyowned traffic management industry has sprung up on the back of these rules and where regulatory power is combined with a profit motive there is always going to be trouble. This industry’s overthetop interpretations of the rules (and overzealous use of cones) no doubt maximises its income.
Similarly, in order to minimise costs, a single Site Traffic Management Supervisor (STMS) may be given responsibility for the setup and management of several sites in different locations.
They cannot be everywhere at once so they will set up and dismantle their various sites long before and after the road crews arrive or leave. Road users passing through the subsequent phantom road works sites simply see a boy crying wolf. Then the roading contractors have the gall to complain that motorists are not observing temporary restrictions.
When a road worker is eventually killed I wonder whether it will be a comfort to the RCAs, the contractors and the traffic management industry to know that at least they had the law on their side even though their refusal to acknowledge basic human behaviour was probably at the core of the tragedy?
Tom Moore
Waverley