Ask a Highways England Traffic Officer anything

[BossHogg]

What do you do for a living Ted?

[BossHogg]

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

[BossHogg]

CABC said:

Thanks for the thread BossHog.
keep up the good work.

Cheers bud.

[BossHogg]

devnull said:

Chaps, are you taught to approach and converse with the lay public in a certain way?

The reason I ask is that on both of the occasions that I’ve interacted with the HATOs, they were quite standoffish, whereas I would have appreciated something a bit more empathetic and welcoming. Both occasions, a few years apart, started with them questioning why I was pulled over on the hard shoulder as opposed to checking my wellbeing. On the second occasion, the gearbox failed in my merc, so I put the hazards on, got the triangle out and sat in an adjacent field well away from traffic; the HATOs admitted they only pulled over as they didn’t see anyone by the way.

Not a pop at the jobs you do, but I’m curious. I wonder if I’d been treated slightly different had I been the fairer sex.

A lot of us were taken on because of previous customer service skills, I'm always friendly with everyone I stop with regardless of gender, age, religion etc.

[BossHogg]

Willy Nilly said:

What will your Land Rover Discoverys get replaced with?

More Land Rover Discoveries, the Disco 4 is being replaced by the Disco 5

[BossHogg]

largelunchbox said:

If out and about on patrol and miles from the nearest services and get caught short,do you piss in a bottle like a trucker? What about needing a dump, bucket?

You hold it in, we tend to go whenever we get the opportunity just in case we get stuck on a job.

[BossHogg]

grumpy52 said:

How often have you had to deploy the privacy fence ?
Is it a seperate course for the trailer towing and fence erecting ?

I haven't personally, but they have been deployed quite a few times. It is a separate course, we did two days, the first day was connecting the trailer to the patrol car, safety checks, learning how to manoeuvre with the trailer attached, erecting the fence and theory. Second day was spent towing the trailer to get used to it.

[BossHogg]

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.

[BossHogg]

yonex said:

'Ask a HETO anything', unless you want to actually question the OP's take on things.

The two tiered 'Police light' solution doesn't work. Paying thousands of semi-skilled people who have little responsibility is just crazy. This thread has just confirmed my views on wombles and what actual use they are.

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.

[BossHogg]

techguyone said:

I think they're a complete and utter waste.

But before anyone goes all old testament on me, I'm referring to whoever makes up the rules, not the man on the job.


It's especially galing when you see how the jobs been reduced in capability since its inception.

That's just it, we have actually increased our capabilities, we can now clear larger vehicles from live lane thanks to our load cells, we can deal with large fuel spills thanks to our new spill kits, we can upright overturned vehicles to get lanes open faster, we can deploy incident screens to enable traffic to pass serious incidents. We are in the process of taking part in new first aid training courses so we can help stabilise casualties whilst waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

[BossHogg]

MaisiesDad said:

Why do you sit behind stranded vehicles for hours waiting for recovery truck (witnessed one here on the M1 only two weeks ago and it was nearly two hours) instead of hooking up a rope and dragging it off to safety. If a car blocked a live lane in years gone by it got instantly dragged to the hard shoulder as soon as the motorway range rover appeared! I do respect the work you do in most respects, I just believe you are ground by stupid management deciding what’s safe and what isn’t from sat behind a desk?!?!

There are times when the vehicle can't be moved, it's been involved in criminality so it has to be lifted in situ, or it's that badly damaged in an RTC, we can't drag it to the hard shoulder otherwise it will damage the whole carriageway or dump oil/fuel across all lanes meaning a full closure for clean up and repairs. It's better losing one lane than all of them. If it can be moved, I guarantee it will.

[BossHogg]

We already have the authority to stop vehicles for defects/safety reasons. As for violations, our lot wouldn't go for it as we could spend a lot of time in court instead of patrolling. We have enough staff to do the job, we would left short if we were in court all the time.

[BossHogg]

techguyone said:

That's good to hear and a good response.

But will the management allow you to use these skills or will they be risk averse (not trying to be funny) but that previous post a while back about one of your lot had to break rules to treat someone really struck home.

We use these skills daily, they are written into our procedures.

[BossHogg]

I'm in the northwest, top of the M6.

[BossHogg]

By drivers not paying attention, not driving to the conditions, or road workers not paying attention or loss of awareness to their immediate surroundings.

[BossHogg]

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. That is why I am constantly monitoring the traffic. I am responsible for my own safety, it is up to me to go home to my family.

[BossHogg]

Willy Nilly said:

Ok, we're getting somewhere. So, there is fault on both sides. When those hefty looking concrete barriers are used, are the people working on site still getting hit?

Strikes me that it is not the speed that is the issue, more that one or both parties are where they shouldn't be.

Those barriers in the main do work, however, I have seen cars flip the barrier in RTCs, narrowly missing staff working in the road works.

[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.

[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!!!