Skip to main content

Focus on people when delays happen, say road users

UK transport user watchdog Transport Focus has launches it report on road users’ experiences of planned roadworks and unplanned disruption. The report, Incidents and roadworks - A road user perspective, follows the watchdog’s 2015 work on road users’ needs and experiences of the Strategic Road Network. In it, the watchdog recommends planning shorter roadworks, 24/7 working and involving the freight industry more in roadworks planning. It also encourages more work to help release trapped traffic, prev
November 16, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
UK transport user watchdog Transport Focus has launches it report on road users’ experiences of planned roadworks and unplanned disruption.

The report, Incidents and roadworks - A road user perspective, follows the watchdog’s 2015 work on road users’ needs and experiences of the Strategic Road Network.

In it, the watchdog recommends planning shorter roadworks, 24/7 working and involving the freight industry more in roadworks planning. It also encourages more work to help release trapped traffic, preventing vehicles from joining the back of a long queue and providing more helpful information when they are stuck.

Among the findings, researchers found that road users want to see continued investment in our motorways and major ‘A’ roads. They accept that it will come with some short-term pain, but feel that this could be lessened if users’ interests were more strongly considered when planning and implementing roadworks. For example, shorter lengths of roadworks, more visible work activity and better information helps road users to tolerate roadworks.

The report also states that road users are broadly sympathetic when there are accidents. However, they are still looking to 8101 Highways England to get the road open again more quickly and, if it is clearly a major incident, to take bold measures to get people on their way and protect the welfare of those stuck in the queues.

It also claims that road users have many examples of where their need for clear, accurate information is not currently being met, particularly once they are out on the road.

Transport Focus will now use these findings to work with Highways England, the 1837 Department for Transport and others to help shape the management of incidents and roadworks to better meet the needs of road users.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Telvent relocates and takes a global stance on ITS
    March 12, 2012
    Telvent's Manuel Sanchez Ortega, on relocating the company's headquarters to the US and how that fits in the international scheme of things. The change-of-address cards are in the post; Manuel Sanchez Ortega has just moved homes. The domestic upheaval of Telvent's Chairman and Chief Executive comes as a result of the decision to relocate many of the company's headquarter functions from Madrid to Rockville, Maryland in the US. Viewed in the context of its significant recent acquisitions in North America - am
  • Monali Shah: "The way we move and the air we breathe is all connected"
    September 5, 2023
    Be yourself: Monali Shah of Google and ITS America tells Adam Hill how showing her personality in business has enabled her to make deeper connections on a ‘non-traditional’ journey into transportation
  • Driver aids make inroads on improving safety
    November 12, 2015
    In-vehicle anti-collision systems continue to evolve and could eliminate some incidents altogether. John Kendall rounds up the current developments. A few weeks ago, I watched a driver reverse a car from a parking bay at right angles to the road, straight into a car driving along the road. The accident happened at walking pace, no-one was hurt and both cars had body panels that regain their shape after a low speed shunt.
  • Highways Agency trials new traffic monitoring technology
    September 24, 2013
    The UK Highways Agency is trialling a system to add commercially available traffic data to its existing sources to monitor traffic flow on England’s motorways and strategic roads. Similar data sources are already used by satellite navigation devices, smartphones, and applications like Google maps. The system uses data that comes mostly from vehicle tracking devices installed by fleet operators, and a proportion from mobile sat-nav type devices, including smartphone traffic applications where the user has