Four drivers a month deliberately ignore Manchester motorway closures

Highways England is urging drivers Highways England is not to put road workers’ lives at risk by deliberately ignoring road closures on the M60 and M62 near Manchester. New figures have revealed that four drivers a month are entering closed sections of road in the Manchester smart motorway scheme to either overtake traffic on the motorway or avoid using diversion routes. Highways England has released CCTV footage showing a driver ignoring an overnight slip road closure at junction 11 of the M60 at Ecc
December 9, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
8101 Highways England is urging drivers Highways England is not to put road workers’ lives at risk by deliberately ignoring road closures on the M60 and M62 near Manchester.

New figures have revealed that four drivers a month are entering closed sections of road in the Manchester smart motorway scheme to either overtake traffic on the motorway or avoid using diversion routes.

Highways England has released CCTV footage showing a driver ignoring an overnight slip road closure at junction 11 of the M60 at Eccles, where he is seen being chased through the construction area by shocked road workers. The video is available on %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal YouTube Visit YouTube page false http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXxLgYawDRk false false%>.

Drivers are being warned that they could be prosecuted if they ignore road closures, and electronic signs at the side of the motorway are also being used to display the message ‘Don’t ignore road closures. CCTV in operation.’

Earlier this year, a drunk driver received a 12-month prison sentence and was disqualified from driving for 15 months after ignoring an overnight slip road closure at junction 23 of the M60 near Ashton-under-Lyne.

Over 400 people are currently working on the project to create a smart motorway between junction 8 of the M60 near Sale and junction 20 of the M62 at Rochdale.
 
The hard shoulder is being converted to an extra lane on a five mile stretch of the M62, and variable speed limits will be introduced on new overhead electronic signs along the entire 17-mile route to tackle congestion and keep traffic moving.
 
A total of 95 drivers deliberately travelled into construction areas on the Manchester smart motorway scheme over the past 22 months to try and cut their journey times. The majority of the incidents happened overnight, between 10pm and 6am, when carriageway and slip road closures are in place as traffic levels are lower.
 
Over a third of the incidents (34) involved drivers ignoring slip road closures, almost a third (29) related to vehicles crossing barriers or cones at the side of the motorway, and over a quarter (26) saw drivers take no notice of lane closures. There were also six incidents where drivers ignored full carriageway closures.
 
The Manchester smart motorway scheme is due to be completed in autumn 2017.
Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Intelematics: five takeaways from ITS World Congress in Singapore
    October 31, 2019
    If you weren’t fortunate enough to be at the 26th ITS World Congress in Singapore – fear not! Stephen Owens of Intelematics takes you through his highlights of the show… Having recently topped the world’s first Smart City Index, Singapore was the ideal host city for this year’s ITS World Congress and provided a fantastic opportunity to bring the International ITS community to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. Themed ‘smart mobility, empowering cities,’ it was an enjoyable week full of networking and lea
    Read More
  • Flir webinar - TrafiOne: an introduction to Flir’s smart city sensor
    February 10, 2017
    Flir Systems’ next webinar on 16 February at 0700 CEST provides an introduction to its TrafiOne detection sensor for traffic monitoring and dynamic traffic signal control. TrafiOne uses thermal imaging to detect the presence of pedestrians and cyclists that are approaching and waiting at the kerbside or walking on the crossing. The 45-minute webinar will discuss the basics and benefits of Flir’s smart city sensor and we will demonstrate its rich set of features. More information and registration deta
    Read More
  • Groupe PSA trials car-sharing service in Washington, DC
    October 31, 2018
    French car manufacturer Groupe PSA says its ‘free-floating’ car-share service provides members in Washington, DC with access to 600 vehicles. The Free2Move service is available to drivers for a $10 membership fee and does not include late fees, per trip fees or insurance charges, the company adds. Members can use the Free2Move app to locate, book and open/lock the vehicles. This pilot coincides with Maven’s announcement to expand its peer-to-peer car-share service in Washington, DC – and other US
    Read More
  • A view of mobility for the next generation
    March 10, 2017
    We wanted to know what mobility will look like for the next generation, so we asked those who would be shaping and using it – the next generation themselves. A group of students studying under Professor Dr Regine Gerike at Technical University Dresden gave us a wide range of stimulating responses. See our website for the full discussion:
    Read More

Highlighted Content