Ask a Highways England Traffic Officer anything

[Leggy]

Interesting thread, a difficult job at times. Having had a puncture on the M3 recently the speed of passing traffic is terrifying. Makes perfect sense to slow traffic down when the lanes narrow.

My question is if you were in charge of Road safety what would be your top 3 implementations.

[BossHogg]

All cars to have a full size spare wheel and training on how to change it, an offence to run out of fuel and any vehicle using the motorway network to have compulsory recovery.

[BossHogg]

Willy Nilly said:

I want to hear the reasons people are getting hit in roads works. There must be a reason that vehicles and traffic are in the same place at the same time.

That's not down to us traffic officers, we just deal with any incidents that arise.

[silverfoxcc]

OP and Ted 2

Thepic you piut up is exactly waht i want. Tells the drivers that L! is a slip
There are signs where it is vague as to L1 does, ( actually is the off lane) resulting in rapid lane changes, usually across the tigertails

I am not advocating ALL L! being converted to OFF only. It the signs that need being more informative

IIRC correctly the M26 clockwise prior to the A3 junction has one or two earlier junctions with just an arrow pointing off L1 carries on along the M25

When you get the tthe A3 turn L1 becomes a dedicated slip, with no indication, so being lulled by the previous signs people bimble along L1 and then find out the M25 is disappearing quickly to their right. Instead of going off and on again.the last second lane switch happens

As regards court time This would surely be a FPN and points with no court appearance Anyone that wants to challenge ( like now with speeding) normally get hit harder If they want to challenge then just send in the video

[gothatway]

BossHogg said:

I only patrol motorways, it doesn't matter what the speed limit is, because there will always be people who will exceed that speed limit.

Do you want to read that again ? Let me ask the question in a different way - if the limit for cars was set at 60mph, do you think there would be more or fewer accidents ? What about if set at 80 mph ? Your answer implies that 120 mph would be fine by you - or maybe you'd favour the German approach ?

[Flibbertygibbet]

Willy Nilly said:

I want to hear the reasons people are getting hit in roads works. There must be a reason that vehicles and traffic are in the same place at the same time.

Could be a laundry list of variables.

Poor observation from motorist
Poor observation from roadworks crew
Incorrect TM layout
Incorrect advance signage
Someone “losing control” and skidding into the works zone
Someone stroking out or having a cardiac event and losing control and ploughing into the works zone
Idiot on a dumper truck reversing into his banksman
Poor visibility due to weather conditions
HGV driver having a blowout and losing control
Drink/drug driver
Police chase gone awry

Etc etc

That said I don’t have the exact figures but the “aiming for zero” project is massive and would no doubt know the reason every single road worker has been struck and injured or killed - these incidents are reportable all the way up to the CEO and i assume beyond him to the ministers.

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/roadwork...

[BossHogg]

gothatway said:

Do you want to read that again ? Let me ask the question in a different way - if the limit for cars was set at 60mph, do you think there would be more or fewer accidents ? What about if set at 80 mph ? Your answer implies that 120 mph would be fine by you - or maybe you'd favour the German approach ?

I've patrolled the autobahn, in my opinion it's not the speed limit thats the problem, it's incompetent drivers who don't drive to the conditions. I've seen RTCs on all manner of roads with varying speed limits. All I will say is they're out there and they drive among us!!!

[Flibbertygibbet]

BossHogg said:

I've patrolled the autobahn, in my opinion it's not the speed limit thats the problem, it's incompetent drivers who don't drive to the conditions. I've seen RTCs on all manner of roads with varying speed limits. All I will say is they're out there and they drive among us!!!

My experience is that the speed limit isn’t the issue, it’s the ability of people to drive at that limit at any given time that causes the issue. Whether that be the people who drive at 40 everywhere regardless of be limit, the people who think 70 is just a suggestion or the road captains who think that the speed limit on the road should be what they think it is.

[ApOrbital]

BossHogg said:

ApOrbital said:

Why do you lot drive so slow?

We drive fast enough to keep up with the traffic in lane one. But slow enough to be able to stop safely to deal with breakdowns, debris etc.

Fair point

[Leggy]

What’s the most common cause of major accidents you’ve experienced?
Already mentioned but rarely is the gantry warning accurate. What is the mechanism for getting them switched off?

[BossHogg]

I can't narrow it down to any one factor, there are any number of causes. Gantries are set following reports from the public of debris, pedestrians, RTCs etc. They can only be cancelled by a traffic officer patrol or police patrol once they have driven through the area and cleared it or no traced it.

Edited by BossHogg on Sunday 7th January 20:34

[ashleyman]

No warnings. Straight to 40 for 1 gantry for imaginary queues, then back to NSL. Why?

I see stuff like this all the time.

https://youtu.be/gUtsztg88ZE

[Leptons]

ashleyman said:

No warnings. Straight to 40 for 1 gantry for imaginary queues, then back to NSL. Why?

I see stuff like this all the time.

https://youtu.be/gUtsztg88ZE

Also seen that a few times. Lots of panic braking for nothing, very safe.

[BossHogg]

Can't help you there I'm afraid, there are no gantries on my patch, or CCTV, or lights!!!

[Flibbertygibbet]

Speed set automatically by MIDAS. Most likely due to slow HGV or tailgating or just a system fault.

The system shouldn’t allow a 30mph speed differential (70 to 40) so maybe help out and report it to the information line next time you see it so it can be investigated.

Doesn’t look like a HADECS3 enforcement site so can’t use that conspiracy theory on this occasion.

[ashleyman]

Flibbertygibbet said:

Speed set automatically by MIDAS. Most likely due to slow HGV or tailgating or just a system fault.

The system shouldn’t allow a 30mph speed differential (70 to 40) so maybe help out and report it to the information line next time you see it so it can be investigated.

Doesn’t look like a HADECS3 enforcement site so can’t use that conspiracy theory on this occasion.

I wasn’t aware you could report stuff like this. If I wanted to, how would I?

[anonymous-user]

BossHogg said:

We're not "police light" we're a traffic management organisation, specifically created to keep our asset moving as best as we can. We have no enforcement powers so there can be no accusations of mission creep on the cheap. We have been trained to enable us to do the jobs that don't need the police. However, we have the means to contact them direct for assistance. That is your own opinion, there are hundreds I have helped over the years who will disagree with you.

Yes, one from from many years driving, including today, where it took as long to get to Folkestone from the Chilterns as it did to complete a journey from Calais to Nancy. The Police used to be on the motorways and offered much more than 'traffic management', you guys are just a way of doing things on the cheap as the budgets have been squeezed. Unfortunately it's the same with CPO's, purely a decision made from financial issues, not sensible ones. Given the restraining bolts you are all fitted with what training is really necessary. Does it go beyond the average skills the average person will have I wonder? On my travels today I did see a womble, trundling along in the slow lane, probably of no help in the massive disaster zone between J8-J9 today? It is my opinion, I think it's a waste of money and a load of bks.

[Flibbertygibbet]

ashleyman said:

I wasn’t aware you could report stuff like this. If I wanted to, how would I?

03001235000 or [e-mail] or even one of the many twitter accounts that exist for each region.

The systems can only ever be made better/more reliable if people report when they seem to be going a bit loopy :-)

[Mansilla]

Flibbertygibbet said:

Willy Nilly said:

I want to hear the reasons people are getting hit in roads works. There must be a reason that vehicles and traffic are in the same place at the same time.

Could be a laundry list of variables.

<Sensible reasons>

The systems that exist are there to stop vehicles and workers being in the same place. Fixed, long term roadworks and overnight work where a lane or more are coned out are different, but the comment was about cones with noone working, so thats more likely to be fixed works.

Fixed roadworks are usually narrow. The risk that comes from squeezing the same traffic into less space needs to be managed.

To quantify the squeeze:

• Normal lanes are 3.65m. You would also have any Hard Shoulder, and certainly some Hard Strips (the paved bit outside the lines at road edges). So about 11m wide, plus a bit of space for error.
• In a worst case roadworks Lane 1 / 2 / 3 can be as tight as 3.25 / 3.0 / 2.3 (with lane 3 restricted to 2.0m / 6'6"). Hard strips minimal or non-existent.

So we now have a carriageway which could be as little as 8.5m. If you have 2 artics and a chunky SUV running parallel that's around 7m of vehicle width. That's risky.

The only way I know of to manage that risk is to slow traffic down.

There has been talk of variable limits (so faster at night or whatever) for years, but so far its not practical. You either need a variable signing system which costs ££££, presents legal problems, and brings its own maintenance issues, or you need to send someone out to physically change the signs. That's probably OK on the Roadworks side, but not on the other side. You'd need a rolling block to do it, by which time any benefit has gone.

[ashleyman]

Flibbertygibbet said:

ashleyman said:

I wasn’t aware you could report stuff like this. If I wanted to, how would I?

03001235000 or [e-mail] or even one of the many twitter accounts that exist for each region.

The systems can only ever be made better/more reliable if people report when they seem to be going a bit loopy :-)

Ok, thanks. Do you think it would be worth sending them a copy of this video or is it not helpful if it isn't real time?