Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Einstein said: ‘Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.’ This is a theory I have long signed up to and today I can add another piece of empirical evidence to the data set.

One of the Access Control Points (ACP, or gate in English) to the camp at Harrisburg is being upgraded because of the perceived threat to the site from terrorists. On the security front I could wax lyrical about the fact there is a small airfield adjacent to the camp, that it has the lowest grade of fence in the U.S. military catalogue, or that I could squeeze through a gate on the Northern side of the perimeter fence. But greater minds than I have decreed that the weakness is at the main gate so that is what is being upgraded.

As part of the upgrade the road layout is being adjusted with an alien feature to American roads: a roundabout. I have seen less than 10 roundabouts (or traffic circles to use the vernacular) since being out here and each appears to have its own rules. People also appear to be petrified of them, probably because they are so rare and non-uniform. Because the construction is  taking place on an operational road building the roundabout has been phased. It also means that everyone has driven past it for the last two months; which is probably enough of a lead up to know what might happen one day.

On Monday we signed of the transition to the next phase of construction and as a result the traffic route was changed in the afternoon for the next phase. Traffic now enters the camp in a different lane weaves about a bit and then hits the roundabout. To be more precise, only half the roundabout and the idea is obviously that you go ‘round’. So without looking at the artist’s impression below you can probably guess what happened this morning.

My Boss’s sketch of the incident (cameras were banned for security reasons)

A driver had managed to mount her car on the triangular lane splitter at the entrance to the roundabout. When in full operation this apparently shouldn’t be catastrophic as the kerb is ‘mountable’ and the level inside the triangle will be brought to the top of the kerb with concrete. At the moment, half constructed, the inside of the triangle is at road grade level, about 8 inches short of the final level. As she tried to reverse out of trouble she broke off her bumper and has apparently damaged her front axle assembly and because of that the car is ‘totalled’.

So what..

Well it lead me to thinking what could we have done about it. Filling the hole in would have reduced the damage sustained to a vehicle but would have caused rework or having to order in concrete. In the end more cones were placed in the triangle to ‘give more reflection’ as the driver said she hadn’t seen the kerb. My opinion is that more flashing lights and reflective bollards aren’t really going to help if someone is looking at their phone rather than the road and that human nature is always going to cause the odd accident. The best prevention of a future accident is the fact that everyone driving in that morning will have seen the car stranded and might be more vigilant: for a few days.

Fortunately no one was hurt in the accident, something I should have mentioned earlier. This was because, by chance, no work was being done in the area. Maybe, as a safety measure in the future though, a soak time of a couple of days after a road layout change might be a sensible safety precaution in an area where commuters operate on autopilot in the mornings.

The below pictures show the phases of construction for the roundabout. The accident happened in the phase 2 layout moving from the top of the image.

Phase 1

Phase 2 – the phase we have just moved to

Phase 3 – This will be a safety concern for the workforce

Complete

Finally, to follow on from Damo’s post about cyclist safety:

http://www.motoring.co.uk/car-news/government-to-consider-banning-hgv-s-from-cities_66733?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=motoring-270715&src=motoring

It doesn’t sound like it will happen any time soon, however it could have huge implications for construction within whatever zone it was implemented. Damo, has the cycle safety scheme on your site been well received?