Be patient during road closures and give law enforcement a ‘brake’

Recently I helped with directing traffic for the Iron Man competition held in Boulder County. It got me thinking about safety issues when dealing with special events and emergency situations while I was trying to endure standing in the 90-degree-plus temperatures.

We were tasked to shut down part of Highway 119, which is a divided road. Both northbound and southbound traffic were on the same side, which as you can imagine, caused slowdowns along with some left turns being blocked. This caused a few drivers to verbally and some not so verbally let us know just how irritated they were about the closures.

What I want to convey from this experience is to have patience. First, law enforcement didn’t wake up that morning and decide to shut down roads just to reroute the driving public for no reason. We were tasked to block the road for the event, and since we had a job to do, we accomplished the task at hand. So when you’re driving through these areas please give us a “brake.”

When you see cones, patrol cars, police or signs, they are there for one reason: to keep drivers from entering an area for everyone’s safety. This means you are not permitted to go that way. We try to make sure there are alternate ways to get where you are going. It may take you a little longer to get there, but you can get there. So remember patience. Our number one priority is to make sure everyone goes home after an event.

Trying to convince the officer to let you through is not going to get you anywhere and will only back up traffic even more. The officer cannot take the time to talk to drivers when directing traffic. It endangers the officer as well as the driver stopping to ask questions.

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