Ask a Highways England Traffic Officer anything

[fizz47]

Do people ever get prosecuted for for driving in a lane that has been marked closed or ‘x’ after an incident.

Common occurrence on my m25 commute and always see people just blatantly ignore the x and carry on -

[BossHogg]

I'm not too sure, we've got next to no technology on my patch.

[227bhp]

I'd like to do your job as it looks easy, how difficult is it to get in and how much do you get paid?

[BossHogg]

Two days are never the same, one day you could have a quiet shift, the next rushed off your feet between incidents. Including shift allowance, it's roughly 27k a year before stoppages. It's a competence based application and half day assessment.

[BossHogg]

Here's the link to our careers site.
https://careers.highways.gov.uk/search-apply?s_Key...

[dudleybloke]

Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Do you like whelks?

Can you rollerskate?

[cahami]

BossHogg said:

Yes, we use them for uprighting overturned vehicles and clearing all manner of vehicles from the carriageway. Plus we carry a lot of equipment.

Are you allowed to do that ? Surely that’s the recovery guys job.
If your not allowed to help a stranded woman change a wheel I can’t imagine you are allowed to upright overturned vehicles are you trained to do so ?.

[Ted2]

Ted2 said:

Why do all Highways Agency employees work themselves up into a ridiculous lather whenever someone calls them HA or Highways Agency instead of Highways England? It's the same st with a different label so why do you feel the need to hack out a reply to every single post where someone's called them Highways Agency telling them that it no longer exists and it's now Highways England? It's not just on this site either, I've seen HA employees doing the same on other forums as well. I do not understand why you waste so much energy on this when it's clear who people are referring to.

[BossHogg]

cahami said:

Are you allowed to do that ? Surely that’s the recovery guys job.
If your not allowed to help a stranded woman change a wheel I can’t imagine you are allowed to upright overturned vehicles are you trained to do so ?.

Yes, we're all trained in the uprighting of overturned vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.

[BossHogg]

Ted2 said:

stuff

What's wrong with advising people of the new title? Did you fail the application process princess?

[limpsfield]

Is it really necessary to have the cars liveried up to look like police cars?

Could they not be given a different colour scheme that makes them stand out, without making every lane 2 and 3 hogger slam on the anchors when they see one 1/4 mile away?

I do think that many of these highway officers must quite revel in this pretend police thing - but for the non-paying attention road user, the reaction of others can be quite dangerous.

[shakindog]

limpsfield said:

Is I really necessary to have the cars liveried up to look like police cars?

Could they not be given a different colour scheme that makes them stand out, without making every lane 2 and 3 hogger slam on the anchors when they see one 1/4 mile away?

I do think that many of these highway officers must quite revel in this pretend police thing - but for the non-paying attention road user, the reaction of others can be quite dangerous.

To work on the motorways the vehicle has to have a certain percentage of the visible area in hi vis/ reflective covering.
To be fair if I’m working on the hard shoulder and HE folks are on scene they can wear flashing neon telly tubby suits for me if it lowers the chances of me becoming a statistic.
like a few already have on the hard shoulders this year.
Statistic not tubby suit wearers

[shakindog]

limpsfield said:

Is I really necessary to have the cars liveried up to look like police cars?

Could they not be given a different colour scheme that makes them stand out, without making every lane 2 and 3 hogger slam on the anchors when they see one 1/4 mile away?

I do think that many of these highway officers must quite revel in this pretend police thing - but for the non-paying attention road user, the reaction of others can be quite dangerous.

To work on the motorways the vehicle has to have a certain percentage of the visible area in hi vis/ reflective covering.
To be fair if I’m working on the hard shoulder and HE folks are on scene they can wear flashing neon telly tubby suits for me if it lowers the chances of me becoming a statistic.
like a few already have on the hard shoulders this year.
Statistic not tubby suit wearers

[BossHogg]

limpsfield said:

Is it really necessary to have the cars liveried up to look like police cars?

Could they not be given a different colour scheme that makes them stand out, without making every lane 2 and 3 hogger slam on the anchors when they see one 1/4 mile away?

I do think that many of these highway officers must quite revel in this pretend police thing - but for the non-paying attention road user, the reaction of others can be quite dangerous.

The same could be said of DVSA(VOSA) we have the same colour battenburg as that's the colour that was allocated to DfT. You see all kinds of strange battenburg on the roads, the design is meant to be the most visible on fast roads, hence the reason why our cars are marked the way they are.

[anonymous-user]

'course if a HETO wagon gets mistaken for plod, and slows the traffic and creates the impression of more patrols than there really are, I doubt the real police are too concerned. ;-)

Anyhow, spotting a HETO on the M3 is child's play.
Hi-viz Mitzi Shogun being driving in pensioner mode = HETO
Hi-viz BMW 5 Series Touring being hustled along = plod.

Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 30th December 22:21

[Ted2]

BossHogg said:

What's wrong with advising people of the new title?

Because once is enough and no-one except you cares. What difference does it make to your life being called Highways Agency instead of England? The overall importance vs. huge amount of time/effort correcting people ratio is disproportionate.

[Robertj21a]

limpsfield said:

Is it really necessary to have the cars liveried up to look like police cars?

Could they not be given a different colour scheme that makes them stand out, without making every lane 2 and 3 hogger slam on the anchors when they see one 1/4 mile away?

I do think that many of these highway officers must quite revel in this pretend police thing - but for the non-paying attention road user, the reaction of others can be quite dangerous.

Not sure any 'non-paying attention road user' should be allowed out on any road !

[200Plus Club]

Have you ever been overtaken at speed by a heavily modified mk1 cortina with its passenger showing you the middle finger because you can't do sod all about it?

One of you has ! :-)
As you were.

[Cold]

Jed3 said:

BossHogg said:

What's wrong with advising people of the new title?

Because once is enough and no-one except you cares. What difference does it make to your life being called Highways Agency instead of England? The overall importance vs. huge amount of time/effort correcting people ratio is disproportionate.

That's easy for you to say, Jed3.

[Evanivitch]

What equipment do you carry?

I'm intrigued as so far you seem to have ruled out most things!