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

  • Troopers in the TOC – a recipe for success
    May 11, 2016
    A traffic incident management project in Arizona has speeded up reopening closed lanes and saved an estimated $165m through reducing traffic delays. The process for clearing roadway incidents on the Maricopa County freeways in Arizona has always reflected industry best practice with, for instance, a live feed of freeway cameras to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) dispatch centre and the City of Phoenix Fire dispatch centre. The region has nearly 480km (300 miles) of freeway connecting 27 citi
    Read More
  • Two seconds – the difference between life and death
    October 17, 2016
    Professor Donald Fisher has spent 15 years identifying factors that increase the crash risk of novice and older drivers. His findings highlight the difference between living and dying, Colin Sowman reports.
    Read More
  • Monitoring, detection and control systems inside tunnels can do much to improve traveller safety
    August 6, 2013
    ITS technology can do a great deal to improve tunnel safety, as Colin Sowman discovers. It was back in April 2004 that the European Parliament adopted the EU Directive which lays down the Minimum Safety Requirements for Tunnels in the Trans-European Road Network (2004/54/EC). This was the first unitary legislation setting minimum safety standards for European road tunnels and was designed to harmonise the management of tunnel safety at a national level. Operators of existing tunnels have until 30 April 201
    Read More
  • Sign language reduces human error says Clearview
    September 26, 2019
    Wrong-way warning systems and advanced queue detection can help to reduce human error. They can also cut road accidents – and therefore road deaths, says Clearview Intelligence Where were nearly 1,800 deaths on the UK’s roads in 2018 – an average of five people dying each day. The largest single cause of serious injury is crashes at junctions (accounting for 33% of incidents), while the largest single cause of death was run-off road crashes (30%) “With vehicles increasingly being designed with saf
    Read More

Highlighted Content