There has always been a gap between good Traffic Controllers and good Planners. To be a good planner takes a lot more than just having an accreditation.
A good Planner
- A good planner has extensive experience throughout the traffic management industry. This allows the planner to think about how traffic needs to be managed on the road network whilst taking into consideration the safety of workers, traffic controllers and road users. They also need to understand the impact that their Traffic Guidance Scheme will have on the productivity of the work taking place and the impact that the works will have on the road network.
- Once a Traffic Controller has 1 year of experience on the road, they are then eligible to sit the Advanced Worksite Traffic Management Course and “become” a planner. But this is only one small piece of becoming a planner.
- A planner also needs the ability to design Traffic Guidance Schemes (TGS’s). Planners within the industry are currently using a number of computer aided design programs such as AutoCAD and Rapid Plan just to name a couple. Different programs are suited to different people and different jobs due to their accuracy and ease of use differences.
- Using AutoCAD for TGS design means that drawings produced are of high quality, easy to read and understand and not to mention very accurate. As the traffic management industry grows and evolves, more detailed and accurate TGS`s are in high demand and on some sites, using AutoCAD to design your Traffic Guidance Schemes is actually a requirement. Using AutoCAD to create TGS`s is much faster than drawing manually or using other computer-aided programs in the marketplace at the moment.
Bridging the Gap
Workmate Training Academy have developed an AutoCAD course specifically for the Traffic Management Industry. Our AutoCAD for TGS Design course will take someone with a good understanding of computers but with no AutoCAD experience right the way through the fundamentals of AutoCAD. You will then put this into practice by designing your first Traffic Guidance Scheme using this software. If you already use AutoCAD but have not been taught by a professional, you will be sure to find some new tips and tricks that will increase your accuracy and efficiency and thus increase the quality and number of plans that you can produce.