can't folks read ??

[sliced]

Last night I was working traffic control for a county rodeo
Another deputy and I placed 2 signs at the front and back of a cross walk from a parking lot to the arena entrance.

These signs where 6 feet tall, bright red octogon shaped and had 4 letters in reflective white that said stop. I mean it's a simple 4 letter word! It's not like some long lettered legal term or chemical ingrediant. It's just a simple little 4 letter word of the type we learned to read in first grade.

Man, better than half the folks either never bother to stop or stop after the sign.
I was getting



several pedestrians where almost hit

I think some people need to go back to school


[ 09-08-2001: Message edited by: sliced ]

[Sig220Man]

It's said that law enforcement is a job which causes one to lose faith in the human race.

IMHO, no other job assignment within LE makes one come to this conclusion faster than working traffic control. What is it about operating a motor vehicle that causes otherwise intelligent, compassionate human beings to completely lose their minds?

We all have our traffic-control horror stories. Mine include:

1. Drivers who try to nudge past the flare pattern, thinking it doesn't apply to them because the gap between the flares was just barely wide enough to drive a car through;

2. Pulling up behind a disabled vehicle in the roadway, and activating the "arrow stick" lightbar on top of the unit (or in the rear window of the slick-tops) so as to give approaching drivers some warning, only to find some drivers who still pull up behind the unit and then honk when traffic doesn't move.

3. And my personal favorite, a woman who INSISTED on entering a closed off perimeter, within which lay a gunman who just brutally shot and killed his wife in the middle of the street, just so she can check her answering machine messages

[ 09-08-2001: Message edited by: Sig220Man ]

[SGT Dave]

Sig220Man-

I absolutely agree!!!!

I have said just that-if you want to see just how stupid humans are-DIRECT TRAFFIC for 10 minutes!

People don't realize how stupid other people who hold "normal" jobs are.

[Mitzi]

I know I have been guilty of not paying attention. My mind gets on worries or something and I don't pay attention like I should. Luckily, that's not often.

[SGT Dave]

Worst cases-

1. Two of us waving rechargable Maglites in a driver's eyes as he came through a TRAFFIC CONE lined "lane" at 15-20 MPH at a license check, yelling for him to stop. I threw a plastic Monadnock nightstick at his car (only thing those are good for) and it hit his bumper right as another officer leaned practically in his window and blew whistle. He stopped-not drunk but about 60 YOA and stupid!

2-As posted under another topic here-a young lady from Tennessee went ONTO THE SIDEWALK to go around my marked unit and a FIRETRUCK which completely blocked the road and with me waving at her to "detour" down a side road. When I got her stopped, her excuse was "I'm not from here-I'm from Tennessee." I asked her if a police car, firetruck and policeman blocking the road and waving her down meant SOMETHING ELSE in Tennessee...

3. Had a 2 lane side road off a four lane major highway (55 MPH) blocked (marked car, me in traffic vest, daylight) AT the turnoff on the 4-lane-Fire/EMS were working a working structure fire RIGHT BEHIND ME on the 2 lane-this could be seen clearly from the 4 lane. Every time someone would give a turn signal, I waved them straight. One car slowed, and backed up traffic down the 4 lane. I'm waving frantically for him to go on. And he stops-right on the four lane! I continue to wave, and stare him eye to eye, and wave some more. Finally walk over, traffic backed up for 200 feet-and ask quickly "Yes sir? Is there a problem?" He said "No, I just need to get in that street."

4-Working school crossing in a light rain. Had just got new marked slicktop with full strobe package (it DID rock-Whelen strobes on back deck and in front under passenger visor, high intensity "hidden" strobes in brake lights and headlights, all with "Comet Flash".) Was holding traffic for buses to leave and a car came into the intersection against my upraised hand-fortunately a bus driver saw it and got stopped-and as he slowed, he continued passing me looking at my CAR-as he passed me at about 10 MPH I was inches from his car, with both my hands almost TOUCHING his window, screaming "STOP-STOP-STOP!" He never looked directly at me-always looking over his shoulder at the car. I got a tag and went to his residence after school crossing. He said he was just admiring the police car...

5-Holding a LOOOONG line of traffic in both directions for several classes of elementary school kids to cross the road coming from Field Day. This was a bad place, and there had been MANY near misses. One lane was backed up around a blind curve. Suddenly, I hear a car coming around the curve IN THE WRONG LANE. I held the kids and (THANK GOD) the teachers saw this and shuffled the ones in the road across at a RUN. I jumped in front of him (no, not smart) and he had to lock his brakes to get stopped. Driver was about 65 YOA. (At this point, a man sitting at the front of the other lane, who IRONICALLY had just waved at his grandson in the group that was in the street, got out of his truck to "WHIP HIS G>>D>>>N ***!" I told him I would take care of it.)

I approached this guy (believe it or not, I still did not yell or curse, although I was so mad I was shaking,) and very pointedly asked "Can YOU tell me what you're doing?" He YELLED "Yeah...CAN YOU TELL ME WHY YOOOOOOOOU'VE GOT THIS DAMN ROAD BLOCKED????"

Yeah, we should NEVER lose our temper in the line of duty. Professional, unprofessional, elderly or not, I physically removed him from the vehicle, which was still in the road, and carried to my car on his tiptoes by the bicep and by the belt. I got APPLAUSE from the teachers and the people in the cars. After I did calm down, I reamed him out about it and told him of all the near misses. He was crying by the end, saying he used to drive a school bus, and had a grandson who'd been killed by a car. He never gave me any reason for what he did-IT WAS JUST PURE IMPATIENCE!!!!

[FLLawdog]

1. Directing traffic at a German/American fest in Heidelberg, at one of our housing areas. We have out going traffic blocked at one of three entrances and here comes a Colonel's wife. As politley as I could explain that it's blocked, she gets real ****y with me explaining that she has to pick up "my husband, The Colonel". I told her I fully understand, but she needs to use one of the other exits. She told she didn't know where it was, so I started to explain it to her. She kept interrupting me, and instead of listening to what I had to say, kept pleading her case. She finally left and went the way I told her. About an hour or so later, here she comes with The Colonel. She's got her lips pursed and this scowl on her face and she points me out to him. I can see her mout "there HE is!". He gets out and introduces himself and I explain what's going on and what I tried to do. Oh no, he won't hear ANY of that coming from a PFC and wants to see someone else, so I get an E-5 to come over and smooth things out.

2. In Virginia directing traffic at a nasty crash scene. There's a thin layer of ice on the road and fog rolling in. I've got probably 200 yards of flares leading up to my spot, funneling traffic into one lane. Here comes a small pickup, hauling b***s around traffic and through the flares and straight at me. I'm moving out of the way waving my flashlight like crazy. He finally sees me about 70 feet from where I'm standing and locks up the brakes, slides past me and out of a fit of anger I throw my flashlight at his truck, hitting the bed. I ask him if he saw me and he said no, he didn't know what was going on. I lit into to no end, telling him how he's damn lucky I've got my hands full right no and what he about did to me. I wasn't happy!

3. Most of our big trafci problems down here revolve around weather, so I'm usually out there in a**hole deep puddles, soaked to the bone in a torrential downpour. Inevitably, someone will try to get past my car with the pretty blue flashing light going or ask the all to familiar question "can go that way?". One of these days I'm gonna say "sure you can. By all means, be my guest! I'm just getting F'ING SOAKED FOR MY OWN HEALTH HERE, so don't let my entertainment get in the way of your progress! We have to do something OTHER than sit in the donut shops, don't we?"

4. On a traffic stop at night, here comes someone asking directions or some other question that can wait. I'll tell them "do you know who's in that car ahead of me?" "no..." "Well, neither do I, so therefore it's very important for me to keep my mind on what's going in there. So, if you don't mind, stand over there out of the way in case he starts shooting at me, OK? Thanks". They kept preaching that in the academy down here, and to tell the truth, I NEVER thought it really happened. Boy was I wrong!

[DMS 525]

A couple of times I've brought my baton across a fender or a windshield, and another time I threw this chemlight('break and shake") at this ignoramus, hitting him in the side of the head. The best test of your temperament has to be working traffic control, especially at traffic scenes. You always have those who think they are exempt, for what ever reason. I sometimes think people lose most of their God given sense when they get behind the wheel of a car.

[ateamer]

LAWS rockets. They need to issue us LAWS rockets.

[poacher]

OK have to add one to this.

Was working a injury accident on a Major four lane (five if you use the breakdown lane which people do). the wreck is on a overpass just over the crest on the down hill side. I had a police van and another car as well as my own on the crest and going back away from the scene to give good warning. Three vehicles for warning using a total of 40 yards of lane before the accident.

While I was at my car getting some more paperwork some nimrod pulls up along side me in the next lane and STOPS!!! The speed limit is 60 and most do 70+ on this thing. He rolls down his window and starts yelling at me for blocking the lane and how it's unsafe. I on the other hand tell him he needs to get moving cause I'm watching people who are now backed up hitting their breaks to stop in time.

Yep you guessed it. I hear a loud screech and a bang, I look up and i've got a F-250 that just plowed another car because he could'nt stop however the truck is now coming for me and my car and i'm inbetween the two. I did the only thing I could think of. I grabbed one of the bar reflectors on the edge of the overpass and went over.

My car got slammed pretty good and I had to get some help from some of the citizens but I got pulled back over the side. Meanwhile people on the underpass side are calling 911 about some cop hanging above them on the overpass. To this day I still cant figure out which was worse seeing the F-250 sliding at me or watching cars zip by at 60 below me.

As a side note by the time I got back up over the side the knucklehead who started the whole thing was gone. If you are him and you're reading this no I have'nt forgot, yes I'm still P.O.ed and YES YOU WILL RECIEVE A TICKET.!!

Best wishes Best luck Poacher.

[Pigskin]

My wife came home from her school a couple of weeks ago & said that she had gotten chewed out by one of the school personnel for driving past his traffic cones. Seems the school was doing a new system & she always goes into this parking lot by this direction. Her statement was just what we always hear in traffic directing, "I didn't think it meant ME."

[Dukeboy01]

1. I was directing traffic at a major intersection for 3 hours with two other officers. One roadway had four through lanes and four turn lanes. The other had four through lanes and two turn lanes. It took all three of us to control it and we really could have used a fourth officer. The worst part is that you had to be so involved controlling your traffic that you couldn't see what the other officers' traffic was doing.
We were about to let straight through traffic proceed on the north to south road when I see a moron in my left turn lane start through the intersection. I start blowing my whistle at him, but he's continuing on with his head up his ***. Finally, in a voice that the other officers told me could be heard clearly over all of the traffic, I yelled "STOP YOU STUPID JACKASS! YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET KILLED!" He stopped then.

2. It's the middle of January and one of the interstate overpasses has frozen over. I get dispatched to the first wreck in the median, up against the wall. Before I get there, a second accident occurs when a truck slides into the first accident. For the first few minutes that I am on-scene, I jumped across the wall four times to avoid being hit by sliding cars. Somehow, none of them hit my cruiser, although the cars involved in the first wreck get hit again. I look up in time to see a brand new Dodge Intrepid slide almost the entire length of the overpass, dragging it's right side along the guardrail. The blonde female driver gets out, looks at her car, and the STARTS TO CROSS THE INTERSTATE TO GET TO ME!! Another pickuptruck goes sideways trying to avoid her, but the driver somehow got it stopped before he hit the wall. In a voice that could be clearly heard over all the traffic, I yelled "WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU? STAY ON THAT SIDE, STUPID!! I'LL COME TO YOU!!" She started crying, got into her car and drove away. I didn't have to take her accident report at least.

[PartTimer]

To answer your question as best I can: NO