Angelo Baldinelli and Chester DeWitt get to see the anger, the impatience, the drunken weave, the dangerous cell phone distraction and the post-casino blues up close and personal.

Sometimes, they get to hear and feel them too. Drivers yell obscenities and occasionally throw things. Baldinelli was hit in the chest with a cup of coffee.

They are out there in the middle of the madness, sometimes only a few precious inches away from the driver who is on a direct course to his or her destination and regards any delay as an affront to individual freedom and the U.S. Constitution.

The two Department of Transportation employees, with a combined 36 years of experience on the bridges and roads of Rhode Island, have become messengers from the other side of the traffic cones, warning signs and flashing arrows. And their message is: Slow down, read the signs, heed the arrows and be ready when your lane isn’t there anymore. And remember that there are people earning a living very, very close to your front bumper.

“Respect the workers — we’ve got to be there,” says DeWitt. “And remember we have children, too. We have husbands and wives and children who we want to get home to.”

On Dec. 4 of last year, they encountered a driver who appeared to be driving his big old Oldsmobile in a different time zone. He didn’t seem aware of things around him, such as Baldinelli and DeWitt and the things they use to let people know they’re there.

The work day started with a pothole on the well-known Pawtucket River bridge on Route 95. There were other stops before the DOT crew reached a pothole near the South Main Street exit on 195 West. Baldinelli and DeWitt had just gotten back in their Ford pickup truck when DeWitt’s well-tuned sense of highway sounds kicked in.

“I looked around,” he remembers. “I saw him coming much too fast.”

The Oldsmobile slammed into the back of the pickup and drove it across one lane and into a Jersey barrier.

Baldinelli suffered a concussion. He remembers how his elbow “clocked” DeWitt as he was thrown around the cab.

Both men were out of work until just two weeks ago.

Baldinelli says he will probably feel a little queasy if he is in the same situation again.

“The antennas are up that much more,” he says.

DeWitt says he looks around at a work site more than he used to.

“It enlightens you as to how fast they’re really going,” he says.

They’re back on the job, back with a front-row seat for far too much of the action.

They have seen drivers on cell phones just keep driving despite the flashing warnings and a human being in their path.

They have seen the early morning spill from the Connecticut casinos, often turned dangerous by booze and bad luck.

They have seen an irate driver actually stop and get out of his car to threaten a crew for getting in his way.

They have seen too many people doing too many other things when they should just be driving their cars.

“If you have to have a cell phone, have it just for emergencies,” says Baldinelli. “To just have a conversation with it while you’re driving, that’s wrong.”

When you think about it, Baldelli and DeWitt actually have a big, wide open window on the way much of the world is behaving. They get to see and feel and sometimes hear how people are dealing with the daily push and shove.

And on too many days, it is a downright frightening experience.

bkerr@projo.com