Transport Focus: Highways England need to equip driver knowledge of smart highways

The UK’s drivers need help to better understand Smart Motorways, Red X signs and breakdown procedures, according to research by Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog. Its research showed that safety is not at the forefront of drivers’ minds and few know what to do in the event of a breakdown.
September 28, 2017 Read time: 1 min
The UK’s drivers need help to better understand 5062 Smart Motorways, Red X signs and breakdown procedures, according to research by Transport Focus, an independent transport user watchdog. Its research showed that safety is not at the forefront of drivers’ minds and few know what to do in the event of a breakdown.


The organisation has called on 8101 Highways England to help drivers understand smart motorways’ benefits; reassurance that motorways without hard shoulders are safe (even during a breakdown) and; installation of orange surface and new signage to emergency refuge areas if trials prove successful.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • US ITS sector needs strategic leadership
    January 31, 2012
    The US is losing its advantage in the ITS sector because of a lack of strategic leadership, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Here, Stephen Ezell, one of the report's authors, talks to ITS International about what can be done to remedy the situation. A new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Explaining International IT Leadership: Intelligent Transportation Systems, makes for sobering reading within the US ITS community.
    Read More
  • Time for a rethink on road user charging
    February 1, 2012
    There is no value in further US VMT charging trials, except to delay the inevitable. These trials should end after completion of the University of Iowa's National Evaluation of a Mileage-based Road User Charge. There is far greater promise in unleashing private operators to commence profitable, non-tolling services, then using these for toll assessment and collection as fuel distributors are currently used to collect fuel taxation. Bern Grush writes
    Read More
  • TISPOL conference sheds new light on VRUs
    June 2, 2016
    Geoff Hadwick reports on TISPOL’s efforts to protect vulnerable road users. At its annual conference in Manchester, TISPOL, the pan-European roads police organisation, called for the better protection of vulnerable road users. The statistics show a worrying trend as, since the turn of the century began, it is only the passenger car sector that is reducing its share of the overall EU fatality stats. Cyclists, motorcyclists and the elderly are all continuing to see their share of the figures worsen.
    Read More
  • Should it be end of the road for right-turns on red?
    April 10, 2024
    Banning right-hand turns after stopping for a red light is gaining momentum in the US. But the debate continues about whether it will result in fewer incidents between vehicles and alternative mobility users. David Arminas reports
    Read More

Highlighted Content