Motorway workers safety campaign in UK

The month long campaign - themed "Respect our Road Workers" - is focussed on Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and south Lancashire where there were 253 near misses in 2009. It will feature advertising in motorway service areas and petrol stations near motorways. The campaign will also be shown on the route planning websites run by the AA and multimap.

Motorways are a workplace for many people but dangerous if drivers do not take care. More than 300 workers could be active on the network at any one time during the night and up to 100 during the day. Some drivers have driven through cones and strayed into the working area with workers close-by.

Highways Agency Area Performance Manager Andy Withington said: "Our road workers provide an absolutely essential service - keeping motorways and trunk roads safe and in good repair to provide safe and reliable journeys. But high speed roads can be dangerous places for them and they need all drivers to take special care when travelling through road works, especially at night when much of their work takes place.

"Cones, barriers, signs and reduced speed limits are there for a good reason - to protect our road workers from danger and keep the public safe. At any one time there could be up to 300 road workers on the network and everyone of them appeals to drivers to pay special attention when passing through their place of work."

Clive Greenfield, a supervisor based at Brinnington, Stockport, for the Highways Agency's managing agents AONE+ has spent 11 years on the motorway network and is well aware of the dangers.

He said: "I have been the subject of a number of near misses and, tragically, some years ago, a colleague was killed when a car drove into the area where he was working. There is no room for complacency in our job which keeps you on your toes but we do ask motorists to take extra care at road works especially at night or in poor weather conditions - we do not have eyes in the back of our heads."

The campaign gets underway at M62 Birch services eastbound at 10.30am Monday 1 March before switching to the westbound in the afternoon.. Representatives of the Highways Agency area team, Traffic Officer Service and Highways Agency managing agents AONE+ along with specialist vehicles will be there to talk to drivers.

The campaign will be at Knutsford services northbound on Monday 15 March.