New invention to keep flaggers out of harm's way

New invention to keep flaggers out of harm's way

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Story Published: Feb 27, 2007 at 5:08 PM PDT

Story Updated: Feb 27, 2007 at 7:32 PM PDT

By April Zepeda

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MONROE - It sounds like a super hero, but it's the "Roboflagger."

Drive up to a construction zone, and you may worry about delays - but flaggers worry about you.

"My fear is the guy who's driving down the road, eating a hamburger and reading the newspaper and not paying any attention," said Denise Smith, a DOT worker.

Road construction is a dangerous job. In six years, dozens of workers in our state have been killed - most of them flaggers.

"It's sad that we have so many people hit in work zones and we haven't really changed anything since Ford came out with the Model T," said inventor Bret P. Goss.

That's about to change with the Roboflagger. Construction workers with the Department of Transportation will be the first to test it in a construction zone Tuesday night in Monroe. A human flagger stands behind a safety barrier and uses a remote control to stop traffic.

"When you want to stop traffic, hit the stop button. It goes from flashing yellow, to solid yellow, to red, and then the gate arm comes down," Goss demonstrated to the transportation workers.

Goss is a former flagger who invented the Roboflagger.

"Now what we've done is taken the liability from the person on the road and replaced it with a machine that your insurance company can replace, instead of a mom or dad not coming home."

Crews will test the Robofllagger during a five week project that will be done mostly at night.

"There's a lot of exposure to drunks and sleepy drivers and that kind of stuff at night," said Assistant Project Engineer, Carl Barker.

"The cost of a life is irreplaceable," said Smith, " I think it's a wonderful idea and people will pay a lot more attention."

And 'flaggers' will pay less with their lives.

"It's nice to get you off the road," Goss said to DOT workers, "you got a lot better chance of going home."

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