Just 42% of respondents thought enough was done to protect road workers in the UK. The poll, commissioned by workflow software specialists, Re-flow, asked more than 2,000 adults across Great Britain for their opinion on the safety of those working on our roads.

Although responses were similar in each country, Wales had the lowest figures, with only 39% of people agreeing that workers were being sufficiently protected. The South of England had the highest percentage, yet just 45% felt that there were enough safety measures in place.

Additionally, there were warnings of increased hazards to road workers. Almost one third (31%) of respondents said that they had seen motorists drive carelessly or dangerously past roadworks in the past year alone.

Working alongside live traffic can result in not only a risk of injury from moving vehicles, but a risk of verbal and sometimes physical abuse from drivers, too. One in four Scottish road workers has suffered mental health issues as a result of such treatment at their job.

Mike Saunders, managing director of Re-flow, said: “We have carried out this research survey to better understand how frequently our road workers are at risk and what the taxpayer feels about the level of protection and consideration operatives receive from road users.

“Improving the safety for road workers is something that is collectively the responsibility of all of us, including the workers themselves, so giving them the means to flag an issue before it becomes an incident is an essential function of Re-flow.”

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The road casualties report, published by the Department for Transport, states that there were 1,472 fatalities in 2020, which is down from 1,752 in 2019. This means that deaths on our roads did decrease by 16%, but due to the lower levels of traffic, fatality rates actually rose.

Cyclists were among those worst affected, with the report showing a 40% increase in the number of deaths from 2019 to 2020. There was also a 46% rise in pedal cyclist traffic at this time though, meaning that the overall fatality rate dropped by 4%.

AA president Edmund King said: “Predictably, the pandemic has seen fatal and serious collisions drop by more than a fifth compared to last year, but tragically, more than 1,400 people were killed on the roads.

“If we are to achieve zero road deaths by the end of the decade, we must ensure this overall reduction is not a one-off.”

He also discussed the need for continued road safety campaigning, with the aim of reminding motorists to be cautious near cyclists. 

“It is staggering that with car traffic down to as little as 22% of pre-lockdown levels and the big increase in protected pop-up routes, the level of cyclist casualties was so high,” said King. “This points strongly to the need for better engineering, more education and more cops in cars to help eliminate road deaths.

“We will continue to push our Think Bikes! campaign so that drivers take more care around cyclists.”

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