Why don't they get professionals for this?

This is a serious question about traffic "controllers" on the Gold Coast. This morning I'm happily riding to work when I get one of these ditch diggers holding up the stop sign. Of course, I stop and wait obediently, but there's quite a queue building up behind me, largely because this is happening during one of the peak commuting times. Well, eventually they finish whatever it was they were doing to the road (which was probably nothing, given the state of it hasn't changed in ten years), and our friend with the lollipop waves the traffic through.

Well, all the traffic except me. He actually expects me to stop and wait for everyone else, even though my place in the queue was at the front. The only problem is, I'm having none of it. I take off and go when my turn comes regardless. Of course, the lollipop guy is still there shouting expletives, but by now I don't care. Of course, I was through the "site" before the rest of the traffic had moved, and before the bigot's curses had finished, but this has never stopped the whiners before. I am offering no apology for this. I arrived first, I was at the front of the queue, in any other walk of life that means I go first. This was no different. I was not about to make myself late for work just to allow some small-minded moron to throw their prejudices into sharp relief.

To put it bluntly, I don't care if there are half a million people living here, the Gold Coast cannot call itself a "city" if it allows such small-minded bigots to hold positions of responsibility. That's right, responsibility. Directing traffic through or around a construction site is a job for professionals -- not whichever ditch digger happens to draw the shortest straw. If Main roads, GCCC or whomever is responsible intends to continue digging up the same roads week in week out (and the evidence here is that they do), they need to realise this.

For my part, I think I'll make the switch to Bundall Road a permanent one. It's the better option -- although the downside is that I don't get to ride alongside the ocean anymore -- but it's pretty uninspiring in Surfers, surrouned by high-rises as it is. It's interesting to note just how much more orderly Bundall Road is compared to Surfers, considering that it carries probably 4-5 times the traffic volume. It also appears to require a lot less "maintenance" too -- despite the greater traffic volume. Funny that.