Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Thanks, but ...


I was driving down Hewitt Avenue yesterday, toward the one-lane bridge just before the intersection with Henderson, when I saw a crew picking up trash along the road. They were not prisoners or public employees, but some sort of private group, made up of adults and children. It was only when I was nearly on top of them that I saw a woman holding up her hand to stop me, in order that opposing traffic could come up the hill. The woman was holding no "stop/slow" sign, and, with bright sunlight hitting my eyes, it was almost impossible to see her hand signs. When it was my turn to proceed, I noticed that the woman at the other end of the crew did, indeed, have a sign to stop traffic. But she also had a small child walking alongside her. I'm sorry, but a garbage cleanup operation on a narrow, busy road is no place for a small fry. I appreciate the work this group was doing to clean up the mess left by thoughtless morons, but the way they were going about it was a recipe for tragedy - a head-on collision or, worse, a small child hit by a vehicle. Is PennDOT responsible for monitoring these private groups that gather garbage, or can anyone form a group to clean up trash, with no supervision whatsoever? Whatever the case, these organizations need to take a closer look at their safety procedures.

Labels:

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought that PennDOT sanctioned these groups and provided some kind of reflective vests for their safety. Could be wrong, though.

Howvere, I have to point out that two days ago, I almost ran into a car head on in a construction area because the flaggers at both ends of the PennDOT safety crew had turned their signs to "SLOW" at the same time.

June 24, 2008 at 4:18 PM  
Blogger Brant said...

You would think it would be hard to screw up that job, but apparently not.

June 24, 2008 at 4:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ohm I donno ... SLOW and STOP both start with "S" and have four letters with an "O" in the same position. May STOP and GO would make it easier. Or red and green lights.

June 24, 2008 at 5:54 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home