They certainly are needed. I was snared in late night construction traffic near Baltimore waiting for a crane to lift a beam. I was in the middle lane preparing to merge over and was at an angle along with another two guys in a car to our right from the right lane. Suddenly there's this beeping coming from a car that's trying to get between us. We then hear a young woman asking to let her pass. "Excuse me, can you please move?" My friend leans out the window and asks, "You can't pass, the road is blocked by construction" she again asks the same thing but a little distressed. My friend responds "Is everything okay? do you need help?" she just kept begging "please move we have to get through." The guys next to us again ask them "Do you need help?" The girl again begged for one of us to move this time nearly crying. The other driver responds "You can't pass. There's nowhere to go" The woman responds by leaning on the horn while inching up until she nearly hits the other car forcing him to pull off the road. She then speeds off into the very active construction zone. Within seconds, out of the darkness comes lights and sirens and gives chase.

About 30 minutes later when the lane opens we get about half a mile down the zone and saw that the cop was only able to stop this nut job after her path was blocked by machinery and materials. She was cuffed, sitting on the hood of her car completely zoned out. Her friend was still in the passenger seat. They couldn't have been older than 20. My money was on club/party drugs they couldn't handle and freaked out while waiting in traffic.