Monday 26 September 2016

Traffic marshals

A new occupation on the streets of London is that of a  traffic marshal. I'd never heard of them until this year and now they seem to be everywhere. There is a tremendous amount of reconstruction going on in London, in particular with the new cross rail going from one side of London to the other. As a consequence pedestrians need to be managed as well as traffic hence the need for these marshals.

















These photos were taken near London Bridge rail station. It is the first time I have seen one of these concertina type barriers being used to close the road to traffic

They work very well as they are quickly manoeuvered into position and the road is only closed  for a minute or so to allow a lorry to reverse out of the construction site.

18 comments:

  1. Colorful shots of this changing event in progress ~ thanks ~

    Wishing you a wonderful week ~ ^_^

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  2. I haven't seen those barriers (yet!) but they do seem a good idea to allow vehicles to come and go safely.

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  3. Traffic marshals earn a six figure salary in Australia - much more than the average solicitor! They appear to be lurking everywhere too!

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  4. Hello, they are neat looking barriers and look easy to use. The colors are bright too. I think the traffic marshals are needed for safety reasons. Happy Monday, enjoy your new week!

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  5. I like those traffic barriers - much better and easier to move than cones or barrels. And in the US, we call those "traffic marshalls" flaggers.

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  6. I remember seeing the traffic marshals at construction sites in Bangkok in the late 80s and we have had them here for a long time perhaps precipitated by the death of an old lady hit by a reversing truck on a Sydney building site.

    For now, we still have marshals stepping out on to the road with stop signs. I expect we will see the concertina barriers soon enough. A smaller version are used by tram customer service people to control pedestrians at very busy events where tram stops become overcrowded.

    As an aside, when the plastic water filled barriers first arrived in Australia, they were called New Jersey Barriers. That name did not last long and I think they are just called water filled barriers now.

    I think we use the name traffic controllers and not marshals.

    PS Marshal with one 'l' looked incorrect to me and researching has led me to understand one l is correct in the noun.

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  7. Job creation, that's good right?

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  8. Good Idea not seen them yet myself but no doubt will

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  9. Whenever there are road works where I live, there will be a traffic marshall around to turn away any cars and let the buses go through (in most cases anyway). And on some roads there will be eight buses every hour, which means the road works have to stop that often as well...

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  10. Very cool barrier indeed. I want one! :-)

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  11. Those barriers would be very handy and easy to use, to say nothing of their great visibility! It's good the traffic marshals are all dressed in orange. Here those directing traffic only wear a neon green vest with dark uniforms underneath. Not nearly as visible as your orange guys.

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  12. Clever idea ! I wonder how many years that will last ! Each year it's worse !

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  13. That's interesting! Great Cities are always constantly changing with the times -- good to see people being kept safe while it goes on.

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  14. (always, constantly .... take your pick.... I need an editor ;>))

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  15. Every time I go to LB it is under construction. A constantly changing part of London at the moment

    Mollyxxx

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