Drivers urged: ‘Don’t put road workers lives at risk’

A road junction in Merseyside, UK, has become a hotspot for life-threatening incidents to construction workers, says Highways England. Contractors have reported 23 incidents in two months where their safety has been put at risk by drivers ignoring overnight closures. Road users have driven into roadworks for the £3m improvement project at Switch Island, where the M57, M58 and three A roads all join. One lorry driver travelled through the construction area without stopping - forcing workers to get out
May 23, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

A road junction in Merseyside, UK, has become a hotspot for life-threatening incidents to construction workers, says 8101 Highways England.

Contractors have reported 23 incidents in two months where their safety has been put at risk by drivers ignoring overnight closures.

Road users have driven into roadworks for the £3m improvement project at Switch Island, where the M57, M58 and three A roads all join.

One lorry driver travelled through the construction area without stopping - forcing workers to get out the way quickly - while another incident involved a motorcyclist swerving around a worker. Meanwhile, a 4x4 driver swore at a worker who tried to offer advice before driving away.

Highways England says there are nearly 300 incidents per week of road users driving into coned-off construction areas where road workers are based at motorways and major A roads.

In addition, findings revealed there were over 1,200 incidents in the north-west of England alone during a three-month period last year.

Phil Tyrrell, Highways England project manager for the Switch Island scheme, said the upgrade will offer better journeys through the junction. 

“Drivers who selfishly and illegally ignore the closures to force their way through are putting both their lives and those of our road workers at risk – all to save a few minutes on their journeys.”

The Switch Island improvement scheme includes changes to the road layout and lane markings, new barriers between carriageways, coloured high friction surfaces, better signs and a new 400m shared cycle path.

LED lights similar to an airport runway are also being implemented in the road surface which will light up when traffic lights turn green to help drivers see which lane to follow.

New road signs will be displayed on three new gantries over the A5036 Dunnings Bridge Road, A59 Ormskirk Road and A5758 Brooms Cross Road to help drivers get into the correct lane to continue their journeys.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff designing new bridge in Florida
    November 15, 2016
    WSP /Parsons Brinckerhoff will design a new bridge in Pensacola, Florida as part of a design-build team led by Skanska. The project is being undertaken on behalf of the Florida Department of Transportation. The US$398.5 million project includes design and construction of new westbound and eastbound bridges on Route 30 (US 98) to replace the existing three-mile-long bridge that links the communities of Pensacola and Gulf Breeze. The project also includes shared-use paths on the outside of each bridge, rec
    Read More
  • Police admit to hiding speed cameras in tractors
    October 1, 2015
    Humberside Police has admitted to hiding cameras in farm vehicles in a bid to catch speeding bikers on a high casualty rural road in East Yorkshire, despite advice from the Government that ‘vehicles from which mobile speed cameras can be deployed should be liveried and clearly identifiable as an enforcement vehicle’. Humberside Police admitted go the Daily Mail it had employed the new tactics as part of an ongoing aim to reduce the number of motorcyclists killed or seriously injured on the B1253 in East
    Read More
  • Weigh in motion reduces road wear, increases toll revenue
    January 24, 2012
    IRD, Inc's Terry Bergan discusses future applications of weigh in motion technology. The application in recent years of Weigh In Motion (WIM) at tollgates has been driven by recognition of the fact that there is economic value, which can be levied, attached to Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) which haul laden (and are therefore heavy) rather than empty. As wear and damage to road surfaces increases exponentially with weight, the targeting of HGVs in particular makes sense from both the economic and maintenance p
    Read More
  • Cautious welcome for US transportation bill extension
    July 31, 2015
    The US Senate's approval of the three-month MAP-21 extension and the ongoing work in the US Senate to pass a long-term surface transportation authorisation bill has received a cautious welcome from many US transportation authorities. Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) president and CEO Regina Hopper commented: “While the country is in desperate need of a long-term transportation initiative, we remain hopeful that the three-month extension will provide time for the House and Senat
    Read More

Highlighted Content