Red X safety initiative launched in West Yorkshire

A red X response vehicle carrying automatic number plate recognition cameras is being used as part of the joint initiative between Highways England and West Yorkshire Police to raise awareness and improve compliance and safety. The initiative is part of Highways England’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness about smart motorways. CCTV footage has also been released showing an incident on the M1 near Wakefield where a van narrowly avoided striking a worker and a stationary vehicle when it travelled in a clos
September 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins

A red X response vehicle carrying automatic number plate recognition cameras is being used as part of the joint initiative between 8101 Highways England and West Yorkshire Police to raise awareness and improve compliance and safety.

The initiative is part of Highways England’s ongoing campaign to raise awareness about smart motorways. CCTV footage has also been released showing an incident on the M1 near Wakefield where a van narrowly avoided striking a worker and a stationary vehicle when it travelled in a closed lane with a red X above.

A red X is used on all smart motorways to close a lane when there has been a breakdown or accident. The closure is in place for the safety of drivers and also Highways England’s traffic officers and emergency services that may be working in the lanes ahead.

The red X response vehicle being used in West Yorkshire will attend incidents on the M1 between junctions 39 and 42 and on the M62 between junctions 25 to 30, capturing images of vehicles driving in a closed lane.

Letters will then be sent from West Yorkshire Police to drivers who did not comply with the red X to advise them about the risks to safety. A similar awareness event was carried out on the M25 back in 2013/14. More than 700 letters were issued and only four per cent of those identified were spotted travelling under a red X again.

Highways England’s operations manager Rob Beckitt said: “A red X above a lane indicates it is closed because of a breakdown or accident. It is used to keep drivers, our traffic officers and the emergency services safe. Hopefully our initiative will raise awareness of the red X sign, and protect people driving and working on our motorways.”

Sergeant Gary Roper of West Yorkshire Police said: “West Yorkshire Police is committed to working with our partner agencies to improve road safety. This initiative provides the opportunity to educate those drivers who contravene the Red X signals, however it should be noted that prosecution remains an option for those drivers who continue to ignore the Red X sign.”

Urban Traffic Control Air Quality & Weather Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Changing driving conditions need ongoing driver training
    January 23, 2012
    Trevor Ellis, chairman of the ITS UK Enforcement Interest Group, considers the role of ongoing driver training in increasing compliance. It is over 30 years since I passed my driving test. The world was quite a different place then, in that there were only half the vehicles there are now on the UK's roads, mobile phones did not really exist and (in the UK at least) the vast majority of us drove cars which by today's standards exhibited dreadful dynamic stability and were woefully underpowered.
    Read More
  • Making the case for ALPR in enforcement
    February 2, 2012
    Federal Signal's Brian Shockley uses examples from around the world to make the case for the greater use of automatic license plate recognition technology in the US. It is time, he says, to consider the possibilities of a national network and the use of average speed enforcement
    Read More
  • Manchester orbital route to become ‘smart motorway’
    June 19, 2014
    Four companies, Balfour Beatty, together with Costain, Carillion and a BAM Nuttall Morgan Sindall joint venture, have been awarded the contract to upgrade a 17 mile stretch of the M60 and M62 to a ‘smart motorway’. The US$313 million upgrade, for the UK Highways Agency, aims to increase capacity, reduce congestion and shorten journey times for motorists. The M60 between junctions 8 and 12 will be upgraded to a controlled motorway with traffic flows managed by technology interventions responsive to the
    Read More
  • Transmax trials emergency vehicle ‘green wave’
    December 6, 2013
    Existing equipment used in Australian emergency vehicle ‘green wave’ trial. Despite the lights and sirens, accidents between the motoring public and emergency vehicles on their way to/from the scene of an incident are relatively frequent. Figures from various sources indicate that road accidents are the second most frequent cause of death for on-duty fire fighter fatalities and that more than 90% of ambulance and fire engine accidents occur when the lights are on and the sirens wailing. Other studies indica
    Read More

Highlighted Content