The ‘Travel Like You Know Them’ campaign draws attention to the recent changes in the Highway Code designed to increase the safety of pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

The campaign encourages all road users, but particularly motorists, to take responsibility and undertake positive behaviours while on the road; giving space to and protecting those that are at a higher risk.

Launched on the 12th of July, the promotion follows the first phase of the THINK! campaign which began after the Highway Code’s new hierarchy of road users was implemented. According to a recent survey, 87% of people were aware of the changes.

Baroness Vere, Minister for Roads, Buses and Places, said: “People tend to see cycles, lorries and cars on the roads rather than thinking of the person using them – but it could be your family member, friend or colleague.

“We have some of the safest roads in the world but I am determined to make them even safer, particularly as more people choose to walk, cycle and ride for their journeys. This campaign encourages everyone to see the person behind the wheel or handlebars, to build more understanding of others on the road, and help keep everyone safe.”

The recent changes to the Highway Code include clarifying cycle positioning, emphasising the priority at junctions for pedestrians and cyclists, guidance on safe passing distances and speeds when overtaking, and on opening car doors.”

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The new rules are designed to encourage more pupils and parents to walk or cycle to Hotspur Primary School in Heaton. The pilot scheme will run for 18 months starting from the 13th of June, with the roads being closed between 8 – 9:30 am and 2 – 4 pm.

The School Streets scheme hopes to create more pedestrian and cycling zones around the school. However, vehicle access will still be available for local residents, school staff, emergency services and blue badge holders. The public will be able to offer feedback during the first six months of the trial, and if it’s successful, other schools could follow.

Kevin McVittie, headteacher at Hotspur Primary School, said: “The roads around [the school] can become very congested at the beginning and end of the day, so we really welcome the introduction of the School Streets scheme, as it means it will be much safer for our children and much better for local residents.

“The scheme also builds on the messages about healthy living that we give to children in school by further encouraging walking, cycling or scooting to school.”

Similar schemes were introduced in different areas of the UK earlier in the year. In January, two schools in Milton Keynes trialled closing nearby streets for a six month period, in a bid to improve safety and air quality by discouraging car journeys and encouraging walking or cycling.

Meanwhile, other schools are taking a different approach to combat dangerous driving practices. Cartoon cut-outs were placed outside the gates of a school in Plymouth to try and discourage drivers from illegally parking too close to the entrance.

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Emergency areas on the four aforementioned schemes will be placed around 1.5 miles apart – almost double the distance of the new target promised by government ministers. As the policy was introduced after the design of these projects, Highways England is technically not breaking any rules or promises. 

However, in January of this year, the DfT publicly supported a recommendation from the Transport Select Committee that states: “The Department and National Highways should retrofit emergency refuge areas to existing all-lane running motorways to make them a maximum of 1,500 metres apart, decreasing to every 1,000 metres (0.75 miles) where physically possible.

“The Stocktake and Action Plan launched a new standard to achieve closer spacing of EAs at 0.75 miles where feasible, up to a maximum of 1 mile. This is now a design requirement for new ALR smart motorways schemes which entered the design phase from November 2020.’”

These issues have sparked concerns over new stretches of all-lane-running motorways that will not comply with the latest policy, such as one situated in Hampshire. For around 30 miles of road, there are only 13 emergency areas, leaving distances between refuge locations of over double the recommended length of 0.75 miles.

Louise Haigh, the shadow secretary of state for transport, said: “This exposes the glaring flaws in the Transport Secretary’s action plan. It looks like ministers are cutting corners with road safety and risking more avoidable tragedies. The Government should stop taking people for fools, think again, and guarantee safety work is completed before the new smart motorways are opened.”

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The on-the-job training system has been created by training provider Seetec Outsource in collaboration with Breedon Group. The partnership hopes that by offering more urban route work, they can tackle the ongoing HGV crisis by attracting young drivers to this career.

According to official government data, the number of people employed as HGV drivers in any industry fell by 53,000 from January 2016 to June 2021.

So far, 30 drivers from across Britain have joined the Urban Driver scheme, which will focus on short-haul journeys in towns and cities that rarely require overnight routes. By concentrating on a better work-life balance, its founders hope they will appeal to anyone who may have previously dismissed traditional HGV work.

Lloyd DeVal, director of sector skills at Seetec, said: “Breedon is a great example of a large organisation that has embraced the flexibility and empowerment that apprenticeships bring to the workplace.

“The Urban Driver apprenticeship clearly demonstrates how apprenticeships are helping to tackle an ageing workforce, the pandemic and changing restrictions following Brexit.”

The scheme will allow its employees to reach a Class 2 licence for vehicles weighing between 3.5 and 32 tonnes in just four to six months.

Seetec also commented that the apprenticeship is now more important than ever as up to a quarter of lorry drivers are expected to leave the industry over the next three years, according to a recent survey of HGV drivers.

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Future developments could involve adding CCTV and wireless technology to the UK’s street lights. This would provide information on speed limits, diversions and traffic alerts, enabling more efficient journey planning.

The trial was part of National Highways’ aim to incorporate technology that can communicate messages more effectively across the network, supporting a wider autonomous vehicle infrastructure. 

In addition to these benefits, the project saw more environmentally-friendly LEDs replace the previous lighting. As well as being greener for the planet, the new bulbs are designed to disperse clearer light.

Lisa Maric, innovations lead for the Midlands at National Highways, said: “These are exciting times as we progress on our ‘digital roads’ journey with the growth of digital technology and the move to electric, connected and autonomous vehicles that will fundamentally change how we use roads in the future.

“National Highways is committed to ensuring we are at the forefront of this digital revolution and are preparing the way for the greener and safer roads of tomorrow.

“Initial trials such as Illuminate will help us identify new innovations, technology and methods to meet our digital goals. We were pleased with how Illuminate performed as a proof of concept and the useful knowledge gained as we continue to plan for the roads of the future.”

Recent technological advancements have allowed this progression in street lighting. The increased bandwidth of 5G internet supports the transfer of more information, while the internet of things (IoT) is set to play an important role in the future of autonomous vehicles.

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Prof. Reed will work with National Highways’ board of directors to provide advice on reaching this goal, as well as liaise with stakeholders and partners in order to further build relationships.

National Highways has come under some criticism regarding its responsibility to road users and their safety. Earlier this year, the company’s own barrister stated that National Highways has “no duty of care to motorists”, after a fatality on a smart motorway. 

Safety is at the heart of Prof. Reed’s experience, which includes previous leadership roles in driver behaviour at Transport Research Laboratories and head of mobility R&D at Bosch. He is also part of the University of Surrey’s faculty of visiting staff.

Commenting on his new role, Professor Reed said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been appointed to this new role. Throughout my career, my prime motivation has been to reduce the harm associated with road transport.

“This is an exciting opportunity to work with industry, academia and innovators to support and challenge National Highways in delivering on its ambitious zero harm agenda.”

National Highways chief executive Nick Harris added: “We’re committed to our vision of no one being harmed either travelling along or working on our roads. Being able to call on someone with Nick Reed’s experience will make a real difference in our capability to deliver that promise.”

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Local councils have always viewed repairing potholes as a priority, and despite problems caused by the pandemic, potholes were still being fixed at a rate of one every 19 seconds. 

Now, the LGA is putting pressure on the Government to reinstate the budget in their upcoming spending review. Rather than meeting their usual annual budget target, the LGA feels it should include an additional £500 million each year.

Cllr David Renard, the transport spokesperson for the LGA, said: “Councils are working hard to keep our roads safe and resilient, repairing potholes as quickly as they can. However, it would already take £10bn and more than a decade to clear the current local roads repair backlog, with the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent cancellation of key planned works risking extending this backlog further.

“With long-term and consistent investment in local road maintenance in the Spending Review, councils can embark on the widespread improvement of our roads that is desperately needed, to the benefit of all road users up and down the country, including cyclists.”

The result of global supply issues means that there has been a significant increase in the cost of road maintenance and highways construction. The LGA is urging that inflation rates be taken into account in future funding allocations.

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The total fleet number will reach 252 vehicles next year after another additional 132 are added as part of a two-year rollout. The gritters meet Euro 6 regulations, ensuring that they have the best current environmental standards for heavy-duty Cl diesel engines. 

With speeds of up to 50mph, the new vehicles are around 10mph faster than previous models, allowing a more efficient approach to road gritting. This year’s vehicles will be delivered to areas of the South and the Midlands.

Duncan Smith, National Highways’ acting executive director of operations, said: “The new vehicles are an impressive sight and this year’s rollout once again demonstrates our commitment to keeping drivers safe throughout the winter months […]

“We want everyone to travel safely on our roads and ask that drivers take extra care near gritters, leave a safe distance, overtake gritters carefully when it is safe to do so and at a reduced speed.

“When the wintry weather arrives our winter teams across the country will be ready to work around the clock to keep traffic moving.”

Including these new vehicles, National Highways now has 535 gritters available for use on our roads. Operating these are 1,300 specially trained gritter drivers. Over 280,000 tonnes of salt is also in storage, ready to be used. 

With all of these measures in place, the government-owned company aims to keep roads as efficient as possible this winter. For more news on travel conditions and the latest road safety news, be sure to keep up to date with the Anglo Liners blog. Alternatively, click here for a free quote.

Smart motorways use the hard shoulder as a running lane with variable speed limits. However, 84% of motorists surveyed believe safety is compromised by the permanent removal of the hard shoulder. This figure has risen from 68% in 2019.

The technology-led motorway network was initially designed to increase the efficiency of UK roads and save drivers time. Plus, avoiding the need to build an additional motorway lane was both cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Despite the intended benefits, motorists’ problems with the roads seem to be on the rise. The number of drivers who believe the distance between emergency areas is too far has also increased from 49% to 61% in just two years.

RAC head of roads policy and public affairs lead, Nicholas Lyes, said: “Our research reveals the enormous strength of feeling among drivers of all ages about the safety of all-lane-running smart motorways…it seems the only thing that will truly satisfy most drivers is the reinstatement of the hard shoulder.”

The RAC report also found that motorists do not have faith in the authorities’ abilities to respond to live-lane breakdowns. Only 30% of those surveyed said that they trusted National Highways’ ability to ‘detect a stationary vehicle in a running lane and act accordingly’.

Lyes goes on to discuss how dynamic hard shoulder schemes, which only open the hard shoulder to traffic at busy times of the day, could be a potential solution. He said: “These schemes could be made the new standard as they still offer somewhere to stop away from live traffic in the event of a breakdown during quieter times, while still accommodating more traffic at busy times.”

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After a nine-year trial, the new lorries were approved by the majority of those involved in the consultation. The vehicles, which can reach over 15 metres long, are thought to be ‘safer, more economical and better for the environment.’

The size of the lorries allows for a larger amount of cargo to be carried per journey. The trial found that they helped to reduce pollutants, lower the total miles of freight journeys and caused fewer road traffic collisions.

LSTs could be introduced as early as next year, pending consideration by the Department for Transport. This means that one in eight freight journeys could be taken off the roads as a result, helping the government to achieve greener roads. 

Of those surveyed, 57% agreed that LSTs were of benefit to the country. Transport secretary, Grant Shapps, spoke of the environmental benefit of the vehicles. He said: “This government is committed to fighting climate change and decarbonising our transport network, and we are working at pace to achieve net-zero by 2050.

“Today’s announcement is a vital step forwards as we work to introduce more environmentally-friendly freight to our roads and build back greener.”

In addition to the potential introduction of LSTs, the government is launching a trial of heavier-than-normal lorries. These vehicles will be capable of carrying heavier goods to rail depots so that they can be transported by train, rather than by road.

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