Van driver banned for ignoring motorway incident road block

A van driver who ignored a Highways England road block on the UK’s M42 motorway has been banned from driving for six months. The case highlights the need for incident zone safety: the road block had been put in place by traffic officers following a fatal crash. Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “We hope this case sends out an important message because those who ignore road closures put other people’s safety in jeopardy and this was clearly the case here for our traffic officers
October 18, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

A van driver who ignored a 8101 Highways England road block on the UK’s M42 motorway has been banned from driving for six months.

The case highlights the need for incident zone safety: the road block had been put in place by traffic officers following a fatal crash.

Richard Leonard, head of road safety at Highways England, said: “We hope this case sends out an important message because those who ignore road closures put other people’s safety in jeopardy and this was clearly the case here for our traffic officers.”

Carl Phillip Bloom drove his white Mercedes van around cones via the hard shoulder on 20 January last year to avoid the road closure between junctions 2 and 1 of the southbound M42

In addition to being disqualified by magistrates in Kidderminster, Bloom was fined £880 and ordered to pay £620 costs and a £44 victim surcharge. He also had three penalty points added to his licence.

Leonard added: “Any decision to close the motorway is not taken lightly, but when this happens, drivers must obey the closure. It’s there for the safety of everyone on the road – people in difficulty, recovery and emergency services helping them, and all other road users besides.”

By law, drivers must obey directions from uniformed traffic officers, who have the power to stop and direct traffic and close lanes and carriageways.

Failure to comply carries a fine of up to £1,000 along with possible driving licence endorsement or disqualification.

Enforcement

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • The twisting path to enforcement’s future
    June 5, 2014
    Survey reveals some division of views about enforcement’s future as Colin Sowman discovers. Technological advances and legislative changes pose many questions for those involved in road enforcement, ranging from the changing demands of privacy and data protection legislation to the practicalities on multi-speed enforcement. So to get the industry’s views ITS International took soundings on some of these bigger questions. In a world where many vehicles are fitted with GPS linked ‘black box’ telematics system
    Read More
  • Mobility pricing offers new tools for managing mobility
    November 23, 2017
    Mobility pricing is the best way of sustaining and enhancing mobility, argues Moving Forward Consulting’s Josef Czako. Mobility pricing (MP) is effectively the culmination of the ‘user pays’ principle and has been referred to in many policy discussions about electronic toll collection, road user charging (RUC), and pricing. MP not only reflects the ‘use more, pay more’ nature of RUC, it also takes account of the external cost of journeys including pollution, noise, the cost of congestion and accidents.
    Read More
  • Integrate systems to reduce roadside infrastructure
    January 27, 2012
    David Crawford reviews promising current developments. Instrumentation of the road infrastructure has grown to become one of the most dynamic sectors of the ITS industry. Drivers for its deployment include global concerns over the commercial and environmental pressures of traffic congestion, the importance of keeping drivers informed throughout their journeys, and the need to reduce accident rates and promote the safety of all road users, for example by enforcing traffic safety rules.
    Read More
  • Work to begin on M1 improvements
    December 11, 2013
    Work on the M1 Junction 19 improvement scheme near Catthorpe, Leicestershire, will start in January, UK roads minster Robert Goodwill has announced today. The US$312.7 million scheme will reduce congestion and improve journey time reliability and safety by replacing the existing junction with a three-level junction and improving roads between the villages of Catthorpe and Swinford so local traffic can avoid the junction.
    Read More

Highlighted Content