The poor driving behaviours of motorists are responsible for almost all of the 2,200 accidents that occur every year on Britain’s roadworks.

The Highways Term Maintenance Association’s (HTMA) Safety Working Group is urging drivers to make a simple change in their behaviour to drastically reduce the alarming number of casualties.

The figure is part of an analysis of around 7,000 roadworks accidents, carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), which has identified common themes that can lead to accidents and suggests measures to improve driver understanding of hazards at roadworks.

The HTMA is part of a National IHT Safety Forum that has been assisting the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) to formulate new provisions in the driving test to assess how drivers approach and enter roadworks. The HTMA has sponsored a driver behaviour awareness initiative by the Institute of Highways and Transportation (IHT) entitled: ‘What if your working environment was just metres away from fast moving traffic – A look at the issues surrounding safety at roadworks and driver behaviour’.

The initiative highlights common road accident themes including:

• Nearly 75% of the vehicles involved in road works accidents are cars
• The main age group of drivers involved in accidents is 30-39
• The most common cause of roadworks accidents are:
  • Travelling too fast
  • Travelling too close
  • Failing to look properly
• Many drivers do not realise that an impact protection vehicle (IPV) is likely to be moving very slowly and is normally used to protect the workforce on the road ahead

Ian Whitworth, Chairman of the HTMA Safety Working Group, said: “Driver behaviour through road works needs to be radically changed if we are to reduce the very high annual number of accidents and injuries.

Ian Whitworth added: “As well as carelessness, we also need to address the behaviour of the dangerous minority of drivers who are aggressive, are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or talk on mobile phones whilst negotiating road works. They need to realise that this is a work place and their behaviour is totally unacceptable.

“People who wouldn’t dream of acting recklessly in an office and putting their fellow workers at risk seem to abandon normal good behaviour and adopt dangerous bad habits once they get behind the wheel of a car. Why should road workers deserve less respect than people in other working environments?”

“By assisting the DSA to revise the driving test and supporting the IHT’s initiatives we can help start the process of changing poor driver behaviour around road works.”

-ENDS-

About the HTMA

The Highways Term Maintenance Association (HTMA) was established in April 2005 to promote the positive contribution that the highways management and maintenance industry makes to the nation and lobby effectively on behalf of the Industry. Its members are some of the best known consulting engineers, construction companies and service providers in the UK and are a vital element in the community, maintaining the basic infrastructure needed to underpin a fast-moving, flexible economy. The HTMA recognises that the effective management and maintenance of the highway network is of crucial importance to the economic and social well being of the nation. Every household and every business is dependent to some degree on the efforts of its members.

The HTMA members are: Amey, Atkins, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services, BAM Nuttall, BEAR, Carillion, Colas, Enterprise, Volker Highways, Halcrow, Hyder, Jacobs, May Gurney, Morrison, Mott MacDonald, Mouchel, Ringway, Scott Wilson, Skanska McNicholas, and WSP.

Issued on behalf of the HTMA Press Office by James Brady. For enquiries from the media, journalists and researchers only, the HTMA Press Office can be contacted on +44 (0) 1782 443080, +44 (0) 7862 53176 or e-mail: james@theprfirm.co.uk