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

  • Mobilty schemes must consider the people who use them – and those who don’t
    September 6, 2018
    There is a temptation to present ITS as part of an endless upward curve towards better, easier, safer, quicker, and so on. But it is important to acknowledge that there can be (sometimes literally) bumps in the road. When mobility schemes go wrong, it’s not pretty. Take bicycle-share company oBike, which recently stopped its operations in Melbourne, Australia. Having no docking stations massively increases convenience for users – you can leave the bikes anywhere - but opens up the whole shebang to the threa
    Read More
  • Wejo offers Live Traffic prediction
    February 6, 2020
    Wejo has launched three products using connected vehicle data which it says can pinpoint where and when traffic is going to build up.
    Read More
  • Rhode Island RhodeWorks plan opposed by ATA
    May 29, 2015
    Rhode Island government (RIDOT) has introduced its RhodeWorks plan, designed to address the state's crumbling transportation infrastructure. Rhode Island ranks 50th out of 50 states in overall bridge condition and has lost 1,200 in the construction sector over the past three months. RhodeWorks is focused on solving these two problems at once.
    Read More
  • London needs just one road user charge, says report
    July 8, 2019
    London’s patchwork of road charging schemes should be replaced by a single, distance-based user charge, according to new research. Apart from anything else, it would be much fairer… The UK capital’s multiple road charging schemes require a radical overhaul, according to a new report by the Centre for London thinktank. The suggested solution is to replace existing levies on drivers with a single, distance-based user charge which would more fairly reflect how much, and at what time, people are using London
    Read More

Highlighted Content