Ask a Highways England Traffic Officer anything

[BossHogg]

I have done every day this week, dacia doesn't have the grunt for carriageway clearance and clearing overturned vehicles.

[BossHogg]

The Vito wasn't used for carriageway clearance, it was used to carry extra kit for full closures, welfare stops for staff on closures and routine patrols. All heavy stuff was done by the shogun and disco.

[BossHogg]

nonsequitur said:

Tonight there is a blue moon. Will you be watching out for it? (driving permitted of course.)

No, I am on leave.

[BossHogg]

Don't get me wrong, I love the job, but I can't put up with the none existent pay rise yet again.

[BossHogg]

Shift work doesn't bother me, I've worked shifts all my adult life. Looks like I'm back to the drawing board, just received a rejection email from the company I applied to.

[BossHogg]

Highways England confused by our colours? Visit specsavers.

[BossHogg]

We did have "Driving Forward" which is a bit stupid as you can't reverse on the motorway!

[BossHogg]

We've still got the "www.gov.uk" website address on the back windows.

[BossHogg]

What role have you applied for?

[BossHogg]

Cheers bud, unfortunately, the job I applied for didn't come through, so it's back to looking again.

[BossHogg]

Vans don't have the capability for carriageway clearance that the 4x4s have. I can't comment on the police clearing the vehicle, police in my area haven't got the equipment to clear vehicles, so we do it.

[BossHogg]

We use our 4x4s to upright overturned vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes in weight, we can also clear 44 tonne wagons with the aid of our electronic load cell. Vans haven't got that grunt.

[BossHogg]

dmsims said:

Why don't you (HE) use something like a V90?

More powerful, more economical, better to drive and roomier ?

Our vehicles team are evaluating possible patrol vehicles all the time, a number have been converted to patrol cars on a trial basis, but never made it on to the fleet due to being unsuitable for a number of reasons.

[BossHogg]

Apart from wear and tear, we haven't had too much trouble with our disco, it's a 15 plate with 150k miles on it.

[BossHogg]

The load cell works on rolling mass not weight, so we can move larger vehicles. It works in kilo newtons (Kns) it allows up to 15.7 kns I believe before the alarm sounds, we then ease off and try again in case it was snatched.

[BossHogg]

That is why we have the load cell so we can clear vehicles within the capability of the patrol car, if the alarm goes off, we abandon the carriageway clearance and call recovery. The only times you'll see us sat behind a car/small van etc is when the vehicle is damaged leaking fuel/oil, it's easier to clean/resurface one lane than drag the vehicle across all lanes and risk having to shut the motorway completely.

[BossHogg]

It's on hold at the moment, just waiting to see if the new mine near me gets the planning permission it needs to operate.

[BossHogg]

Err no! I'm a happily married faithful ugly bald old git!

[BossHogg]

Carriageway clearance, is just that, moving the vehicle from the live lane to the hard shoulder to reopen the lane. We don't move them great distances, 40-50 m at the most.

[BossHogg]

Or a healthy dose of common sense, it trumps all that.