Ask a Highways England Traffic Officer anything
Discussion
BossHogg said:
Little responsibility? Minor non injury RTCs, live lane debris, breakdowns, abandoned vehicles, pedestrians, carriageway defects, infrastructure damage, traffic management for serious/fatal RTCs fuel spills, rolling road blocks for carriageway repairs, lane closures for offside wagon tyre changes vehicle fires etc, carriageway clearance to reopen lanes after RTCs, rolling blocks for attempted suicides, sitting with damaged vehicles waiting for recovery, arranging recovery for people without any. We do this on a daily basis. One of our own was killed by a speeding motorist while waiting for recovery of RTC damaged vehicles. The list of what we do is extensive. The majority of which doesn't require a police officer, they can put their skills to better use.
With all due respect you're just bigging up the job to make it sound harder than it actually is. The reality is that any muppet can do it. It's hardly difficult to press a button that flashes up some lights and drive at 10 mph while the other guy jumps out and chucks a bit of truck tyre in the hedgerow, nor is it difficult to stand like ornaments at the top of the grass embankment looking all pleased with yourself that your row of 6" tall cones will most definitely stop a 44 tonne truck from ploughing into the ATS guy that's trying to change a tyre with his arse hanging in the breeze.BossHogg said:
Little responsibility? Minor non injury RTCs, live lane debris, breakdowns, abandoned vehicles, pedestrians, carriageway defects, infrastructure damage, traffic management for serious/fatal RTCs fuel spills, rolling road blocks for carriageway repairs, lane closures for offside wagon tyre changes vehicle fires etc, carriageway clearance to reopen lanes after RTCs, rolling blocks for attempted suicides, sitting with damaged vehicles waiting for recovery, arranging recovery for people without any. We do this on a daily basis. One of our own was killed by a speeding motorist while waiting for recovery of RTC damaged vehicles. The list of what we do is extensive. The majority of which doesn't require a police officer, they can put their skills to better use.
To be honest most of the above isn't beyond the average motorist, not to mention the AA, - minor non injury RTC, really? I'm unmoved in my opinion that highways officers (whatever) are just cheap Police without much clout? The thing you seem not to comprehend is that traffic cops, whilst just cruising around, see and sort things. I can't remember another country that has this two tiered solution, it just makes no sense. I agree with that, especially as the years roll by and you're allowed to do less and less, save the money for the real police, it seemed to work pre 2004 no?
Too much of this pretend police gone by in those years, pcsos, pretend traffic cops, I'd rather have the real thing, but then I'm a bit older and can remember the older days.
I'm not a big believer in the compensation culture s
t either, I can remember before it came thinking, that'll backfire spectacularly and cost us all a lot extra to no real benefit.
Too much of this pretend police gone by in those years, pcsos, pretend traffic cops, I'd rather have the real thing, but then I'm a bit older and can remember the older days.
I'm not a big believer in the compensation culture s
t either, I can remember before it came thinking, that'll backfire spectacularly and cost us all a lot extra to no real benefit.Edited by techguyone on Monday 1st January 23:33
PF62 said:
Nice of you to focus on the colour, but to be honest I always think back to the very dark blue uniform the police used to wear.
However you don't seem to have covered the point of why control center staff and management feel the need to have a uniform with epaulettes and gold braid.
Do any other staff in civil service departments which are not military or law enforcement also wear 'fancy dress', especially as they are employed in non-public facing roles?
Our control room staff, In the eyes of the law, are traffic officers. They have to have collar numbers for PNC and signal setting purposes. As the traffic management act states a traffic officer can only apply their powers whilst in uniform some lawyer would probably try and use not wearing a uniform in the control to get a client off.However you don't seem to have covered the point of why control center staff and management feel the need to have a uniform with epaulettes and gold braid.
Do any other staff in civil service departments which are not military or law enforcement also wear 'fancy dress', especially as they are employed in non-public facing roles?
Ted2 said:
With all due respect you're just bigging up the job to make it sound harder than it actually is. The reality is that any muppet can do it. It's hardly difficult to press a button that flashes up some lights and drive at 10 mph while the other guy jumps out and chucks a bit of truck tyre in the hedgerow, nor is it difficult to stand like ornaments at the top of the grass embankment looking all pleased with yourself that your row of 6" tall cones will most definitely stop a 44 tonne truck from ploughing into the ATS guy that's trying to change a tyre with his arse hanging in the breeze.
Not according to a 'long serving' traffic copper quoted from another thread.Elroy Blue said:
There's a reason why working on a m/way requires specialist training and vehicles, while dual carriageways don't.
You only have to do a quick search of fatalities on motorways to see you ain't quite right. An interesting one below in that once people are safe, those muppets you refer to manage to get themselves into a situation with devastating consequences for themselves whilst 'assisting' in an unsafe environment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7724259/Man...
BossHogg said:
We are trained in first aid, I'm also a first aid trainer. There has been an instance where a motorist was having a heart attack on the hard shoulder, no ambulance, police or fire available, so the patrol went against procedures and took him to hospital saving his life.
Did you stick to the speed limits and obey the rules of the road?Edited by HTP99 on Monday 1st January 22:58
BossHogg said:
We are trained in first aid, I'm also a first aid trainer. There has been an instance where a motorist was having a heart attack on the hard shoulder, no ambulance, police or fire available, so the patrol went against procedures and took him to hospital saving his life.
You don't know that.speedyguy said:
Ted2 said:
With all due respect you're just bigging up the job to make it sound harder than it actually is. The reality is that any muppet can do it. It's hardly difficult to press a button that flashes up some lights and drive at 10 mph while the other guy jumps out and chucks a bit of truck tyre in the hedgerow, nor is it difficult to stand like ornaments at the top of the grass embankment looking all pleased with yourself that your row of 6" tall cones will most definitely stop a 44 tonne truck from ploughing into the ATS guy that's trying to change a tyre with his arse hanging in the breeze.
Not according to a 'long serving' traffic copper quoted from another thread.Elroy Blue said:
There's a reason why working on a m/way requires specialist training and vehicles, while dual carriageways don't.
You only have to do a quick search of fatalities on motorways to see you ain't quite right. An interesting one below in that once people are safe, those muppets you refer to manage to get themselves into a situation with devastating consequences for themselves whilst 'assisting' in an unsafe environment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7724259/Man...
Again it's a job that any muppet can do and is no more hazardous than what a sizeable number of the population do on a daily basis, but the difference is they don't feel the need to constantly shout about how important they are - probably because they don't dress up in immitation police uniforms with their own special rank numbers giving them a grandiose sense of self-importance.
BossHogg said:
We are trained in first aid, I'm also a first aid trainer. There has been an instance where a motorist was having a heart attack on the hard shoulder, no ambulance, police or fire available, so the patrol went against procedures and took him to hospital saving his life.
Whilst I'm very glad that you did, I'm also very very conscious that another one of the team could have 'followed procedures' and someone wouldn't have survived as a result.Just stop and think about that for a moment
This to me would be enough to pull the plug and give the money to the police.
Maybe it's just me, but I'm having a real WTF moment here and am finding it harder and harder to get the point of HE at all.
As I've previously stated, two different budgets, get rid of us, the police will still be short staffed due to budget cuts. HE are tasked with the job of running the motorway network, we work for them. That's my last reply on this topic as clearly some aren't interested in what we do and have their own opinions, Good night boys and girls.
Edited by BossHogg on Monday 1st January 23:43
Ted2 said:
speedyguy said:
Ted2 said:
With all due respect you're just bigging up the job to make it sound harder than it actually is. The reality is that any muppet can do it. It's hardly difficult to press a button that flashes up some lights and drive at 10 mph while the other guy jumps out and chucks a bit of truck tyre in the hedgerow, nor is it difficult to stand like ornaments at the top of the grass embankment looking all pleased with yourself that your row of 6" tall cones will most definitely stop a 44 tonne truck from ploughing into the ATS guy that's trying to change a tyre with his arse hanging in the breeze.
Not according to a 'long serving' traffic copper quoted from another thread.Elroy Blue said:
There's a reason why working on a m/way requires specialist training and vehicles, while dual carriageways don't.
You only have to do a quick search of fatalities on motorways to see you ain't quite right. An interesting one below in that once people are safe, those muppets you refer to manage to get themselves into a situation with devastating consequences for themselves whilst 'assisting' in an unsafe environment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7724259/Man...
Again it's a job that any muppet can do and is no more hazardous than what a sizeable number of the population do on a daily basis, but the difference is they don't feel the need to constantly shout about how important they are - probably because they don't dress up in immitation police uniforms with their own special rank numbers giving them a grandiose sense of self-importance.
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