Apparently this is a normal and an acceptable way of doing road repair so, keep your head on a swivel, NB drivers.
Presumed Nebraska resident and Redditor /u/CoexsistingWithHumans shared dashcam footage he dug up earlier this weekend showing the shocking moment a highway repair crew patching holes on I-80 in Grand Island, NB went out to work on the road with traffic blazing past them with no safety cones, signage, or the like.
The only thing warning drivers were the bright, orange, and green safety vests they had on.
/u/CoexsistingWithHumans’s thread is linked here, with their video embedded below.
Their brief encounter happened on eastbound I-80 in Grand Island, NB just after cars crossed the Platte River (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As OP’s video shows, he and the truck he’s following are traveling at a normal, highway speed, both in the left lane.
In the distance, we can see a semi-trailer change lane into their lane.
Just as the front truck passes over the Platte River, blocked by the rear trailer of the semi, suddenly we see two guys repairing the road.
It looks like they’ve done this sort of thing before, as they don’t even look up at the passing cars.
Apparently, this happens all the time.
“This is exactly the way they do it in Colorado. Job security (if they don’t die) because they’ll be back next week to fix the hole again,” //u/tnvkenyon comments.
“That looks like state dot maintenance workers patching with cold mix. My state does it similar. Usually no traffic control. Run out and drop a shovel full of mix in the hole,” /u/bombadaka also comments.
If you think these guys are just plain reckless, you’re not wrong, as an actual traffic management professional chimed in.
“Here’s the bigger problem. The road starts to curve just prior to where the work is being done. This creates a bigger blind spot for the road crew,” /u/AggravatingLayer5080, the traffic management professional comments.
“Now let’s suppose this camera car is tailgating the truck and decides pass this rig, I’m going to pass on the right, which happens all the time. No cones or flags on the roadway tell the tailgating driver all is good.”
“The driver zooms around at the worst possible moment and… blam… two completely preventable fatalities. These types of blind rear endings happen every day…”
“…There should have been a lane reduction taken to safely facilitate this repair in progress. That pothole doesn’t care what happens to anyone. No pothole is worth dying for.”
Regardless if this is the accepted way of doing things, a little risk management and accident prevention would do these fellas a world of good, not to mention set up a precedence of safety as #1.
It’s cliché to say, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
A car vs. a soft, squishy human body?
It’s not even a contest.
The abbreviation for Nebraska is NE. ???? NB is the abbreviation for New Brunswick. At least that is how it is taught in elementary school
You’re right. Thank you!