Highways Agency now highways england
Discussion
I work in the control room and after reading article by Dan Trent and a few other bits thought i would start apost and try and answer some of your queries
any view i express is that of my own not that of highways england.
feel free to ask me and i will answer what i can but you can call the "highways england information line" on 0300 123 5000 24hrs a day
I have sent Dan a tweet offering a guided tour
1) 50 for no reason! this normally set by "midas" which is a queue protection system where sensors detect the amount of, speed and distance apart of the traffic so when there is heavy braking or bunch 50 is set a fair distance before to slow traffic so it doesnt run ito the back of the queue,when it works by the time you get there the queue has gone (hopefully)
2) the most common accident on a motorway is a foreign lorry changing lanes and hitting a small car that he didnt see, normally because the car driver did not think about what a lorry can and cant see and of course the driver is over the other side of the lorry so makes it worse.
3)if you have an accident on the motorway do not assume that your breakdown cover will recover your vehicle,some will but others will tell you it is "breakdown cover" not "accident cover" if you can tellthem your insurance details they will recover vehicle on behalf of the insurance company but id you cant they will charge you (a lot) and you will have to pay yhem beorehand and claim back off your insurance.
always carry copy of your insurance cert or have details on your phone, it speeds whole thing up
4)get a car charger, and have credit on your phone,
5)if you run out of fuel and have no recovery you have 2 hours to sort your self out, we have powers to remove your vehicle at your cost which starts at £150 and we can keep the car till you pay up charging you storage. we do try and exhaust all options first and often people will do a roadside join up to a breakdown company but as you can imagine what they charge you when you are on your laptop at home and what they charge you on the dhardshoulder are drastically different.
people running out of fuel is a huge problem, but why they have to do it in live lane beats me
6) do not stop on the hard shoulder unless you really need to and if you do get out of the car preferably on the passenger side and over the barrier, lorries drift over white line all the time hence its a rumble strip, sadly many people are killed each year on the hard shoulder february 14th on the M1 was particulary tragic
7)motorway speed cameras are run by the police not us and you have the Daily Mail to thank if you have been caught by one, they did freedom of information act request to find out how many and which ones were working on the motorways most were turned off, for example on the m 25 only the ones j6 to j6 were on but after they published article they were all put back on, well done!
(tom tom does free app which tell you which ones are on, and its quite accurate)
8)almost everything you buy and use has been delivered by a lorry, so it makes sense to tell drivers that there is a problem a long way away so they can use a different route, hence signs telling you about problems 100 miles away, think about it?
9) all of our cctv records all of the time , if you have an accident on the motorway your insurance company can request footage from us but the must do it within 7 days.
10) get a dashcam!!
that will do for now, feel free to ask anything but no whining please,
any view i express is that of my own not that of highways england.
feel free to ask me and i will answer what i can but you can call the "highways england information line" on 0300 123 5000 24hrs a day
I have sent Dan a tweet offering a guided tour
1) 50 for no reason! this normally set by "midas" which is a queue protection system where sensors detect the amount of, speed and distance apart of the traffic so when there is heavy braking or bunch 50 is set a fair distance before to slow traffic so it doesnt run ito the back of the queue,when it works by the time you get there the queue has gone (hopefully)
2) the most common accident on a motorway is a foreign lorry changing lanes and hitting a small car that he didnt see, normally because the car driver did not think about what a lorry can and cant see and of course the driver is over the other side of the lorry so makes it worse.
3)if you have an accident on the motorway do not assume that your breakdown cover will recover your vehicle,some will but others will tell you it is "breakdown cover" not "accident cover" if you can tellthem your insurance details they will recover vehicle on behalf of the insurance company but id you cant they will charge you (a lot) and you will have to pay yhem beorehand and claim back off your insurance.
always carry copy of your insurance cert or have details on your phone, it speeds whole thing up
4)get a car charger, and have credit on your phone,
5)if you run out of fuel and have no recovery you have 2 hours to sort your self out, we have powers to remove your vehicle at your cost which starts at £150 and we can keep the car till you pay up charging you storage. we do try and exhaust all options first and often people will do a roadside join up to a breakdown company but as you can imagine what they charge you when you are on your laptop at home and what they charge you on the dhardshoulder are drastically different.
people running out of fuel is a huge problem, but why they have to do it in live lane beats me
6) do not stop on the hard shoulder unless you really need to and if you do get out of the car preferably on the passenger side and over the barrier, lorries drift over white line all the time hence its a rumble strip, sadly many people are killed each year on the hard shoulder february 14th on the M1 was particulary tragic
7)motorway speed cameras are run by the police not us and you have the Daily Mail to thank if you have been caught by one, they did freedom of information act request to find out how many and which ones were working on the motorways most were turned off, for example on the m 25 only the ones j6 to j6 were on but after they published article they were all put back on, well done!
(tom tom does free app which tell you which ones are on, and its quite accurate)
8)almost everything you buy and use has been delivered by a lorry, so it makes sense to tell drivers that there is a problem a long way away so they can use a different route, hence signs telling you about problems 100 miles away, think about it?
9) all of our cctv records all of the time , if you have an accident on the motorway your insurance company can request footage from us but the must do it within 7 days.
10) get a dashcam!!
that will do for now, feel free to ask anything but no whining please,
I should point out i work for the traffic officer service in the control room, we control all the motorways and some of the A roads, there are 7 control centers around the country and each one has several outstations spread around the network where the patrol vehicles are based, we answer the SOS boxes and set all the signals. and deal with anything and everything that happens on the motorway from potholes to fatals
TooMany2cvs said:
While that does apply moving lanes right, that's not the only direction a wagon changes lane, is it? Every time a LHD truck (which may well be UK reg) moves a lane left, he's on the same side of the truck as the lane he's going into. Just as the driver of a RHD truck is on the wrong side when moving lanes left...
There is, perhaps, a greater likelihood of a hurried lane change going right, trying to squeeze into a gap, as well as a greater likelihood of a car being in that gap. But I've had RHD trucks pull out on me doing that just as many times as LHD, if not more. I've also had both RHD and LHD trucks change lane left onto me in L1.
"the most common accident on a motorway is a foreign lorry changing lanes and hitting a small car" nearly always the truck is LHD and moving to the right, sometimes it the truckers fault sometimes the drivers, normally minor injury but i have had to deal with 1 fatal one. the most of these type I have had is 8 in one shift across my area. these cause a huge amount of congestion. There is, perhaps, a greater likelihood of a hurried lane change going right, trying to squeeze into a gap, as well as a greater likelihood of a car being in that gap. But I've had RHD trucks pull out on me doing that just as many times as LHD, if not more. I've also had both RHD and LHD trucks change lane left onto me in L1.
how many of you have seen a crumpled car on the hard shoulder sometimes facing the wrong way with a truck further along?
get a dashcam
Elroy Blue said:
Unfortunately the Highways Agency (sorry, England) have cut back on the number of crews and introduced single crewing. They also have introduced a policy where they don't allow single crewed cars to attend many incidents. They bat it off to the Police.
They have however, spent a very large sum of money doing up their regional control centre. The taps and sinks in the toilets are very, very nice. The bean counters now have a very nice place to work.
not true about single crewing and cutting back, we are recruiting on and off road if you are interested, and out place not been refurbed since 2004They have however, spent a very large sum of money doing up their regional control centre. The taps and sinks in the toilets are very, very nice. The bean counters now have a very nice place to work.
550Anniv said:
Hi and thanks for your posts.
Is there a web site for applications for on road recruitment? I am in Worcester, so do you know if it's for the Worcester / West Midlands area or Nationwide??
Thanks, Rob
Changes all the time, control room in Bristol nearest you at moment, quinton would be nearer you I thinkIs there a web site for applications for on road recruitment? I am in Worcester, so do you know if it's for the Worcester / West Midlands area or Nationwide??
Thanks, Rob
https://recruitment.highways.gov.uk/templates/high...
550Anniv said:
Hi Duck Tippin, Thanks for the link. I would be interested in finding out about what is involved
in the role of Traffic Officer, so as there appears no vacancies listed for that role, i have registed
my interest.
Dont mind hours/Shifts, but needs to be Worcester/West Midlands area.
Regards
Rob.
The off road officers are " regional control centre operators" which is what I do, they seem to take turns at recruiting and will do onroaders next, depends what which you want to do. There are a few videos on YouTube or recently bbc did 4 part series about us called life in the fast lanein the role of Traffic Officer, so as there appears no vacancies listed for that role, i have registed
my interest.
Dont mind hours/Shifts, but needs to be Worcester/West Midlands area.
Regards
Rob.
ukaskew said:
I'm interested in matrix update times, particularly for road closures. It feels more common (particularly early mornings after a night closure) but often the matrix sign is still telling you to get off the road long after it has re-opened. My favourite example was the A27 on the way to the Goodwood FoS earlier this year, if I remember correctly it was scheduled to re-open at 6am, but at 7am and gone there were constant warnings to leave the road, but people seemed to be carrying on regardless, so I did too and it was completely clear, no teams appeared to be on-site etc.
Locally (Wiltshire) we don't tend to have matrix signs so we have a significant issue with 'real' signs during road closures. I appreciate the signs will always need to go out a little while before the road closes and take a little while to remove, but my favourite recent example on a major trunk road was the signs going out early Saturday morning...I knew locally from the press that the road wasn't actually closing until Sunday, so again I ignored the signs.
I often see people moaning about drivers ignoring road closure signs and seeing them having to turn around etc, but I don't blame them, it feels like more often than not the signage is incorrect or in place at the wrong time.
this was probably because the contractor was taking in all the parts of his closure and didn't call the control room to say road was open until he had finished completely, he should have told us road was open and for us to change signs to say so but leave speeds on so he can clear his stuff.Locally (Wiltshire) we don't tend to have matrix signs so we have a significant issue with 'real' signs during road closures. I appreciate the signs will always need to go out a little while before the road closes and take a little while to remove, but my favourite recent example on a major trunk road was the signs going out early Saturday morning...I knew locally from the press that the road wasn't actually closing until Sunday, so again I ignored the signs.
I often see people moaning about drivers ignoring road closure signs and seeing them having to turn around etc, but I don't blame them, it feels like more often than not the signage is incorrect or in place at the wrong time.
if you ring 0300 123 5000 and report it we will ring contractor straight away and chase him up, sounds like he should have been chased up anyway as he had over run
duck tippin said:
"the most common accident on a motorway is a foreign lorry changing lanes and hitting a small car" nearly always the truck is LHD and moving to the right, sometimes it the truckers fault sometimes the drivers, normally minor injury but i have had to deal with 1 fatal one. the most of these type I have had is 8 in one shift across my area. these cause a huge amount of congestion.
how many of you have seen a crumpled car on the hard shoulder sometimes facing the wrong way with a truck further along?
get a dashcam
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-34288831how many of you have seen a crumpled car on the hard shoulder sometimes facing the wrong way with a truck further along?
get a dashcam
sadly
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