Video footage shows near misses with National Highways traffic officers

A series of incidents where traffic officers and road workers have narrowly escaped serious injury, because of the actions of dangerous drivers, have been highlighted by National Highways.

Cameras captured one traffic officer jumping onto a verge as a speeding vehicle headed towards her, a car careering through the middle of roadworks and one vehicle ignoring a road block and almost hitting a traffic officer at the scene.

National Highways has shared the footage to highlight the risks that road workers face and urge people to think carefully about their actions or face the consequences.

It comes as the highways industry comes together this week to mark Respect our Workforce Week.

Having suffered two frightening near misses on the M6 in the West Midlands, National Highways traffic officer Michel Reitsma said: “We don’t stop traffic for the sake of it, we are trying to keep the area safe.

“You are trying to do your job, trying to help people and protect them and there are some with a mindset to be abusive or behave recklessly. It is just not necessary.”

Reitsma watches as a vehicle disappears into the distance, past road workers in the carriageway.

In the first incident, Reitsma had stopped traffic at junction 6 Spaghetti Junction because workers were in the carriageway repairing a pothole.

An impatient driver decided to ignore the roadblock and go around the traffic officer vehicle – nearly hitting him in the process as he was getting out of his car.

Reitsma said: “Before getting out of my vehicle I first checked my mirror and the vehicle in question was still there. As I opened the door they have come past. They had to squeeze between a wall and my vehicle and clipped the mirror – but it could have been me.”

In the second, near junction 10 (Walsall), Reitsma was leading a rolling road block because of a broken down vehicle ahead. Again, a driver broke free and got ahead of the traffic officer vehicle.

Reitsma said: “It was quite close to an exit slip so one person thought ‘this isn’t for me, I can get off’ and just pulled around me, around the roadblock, and drove off. It was so dangerous.”

He believes such dangerous incidents, and the abuse traffic officers receive, is getting worse. In the six years he has been a traffic officer he has been physically threatened or even attacked.

He explained: “I don’t want to stop traffic, I want to get it moving as soon as possible. But I want to get traffic going safely, safety is paramount.”

Footage from the incidents was shared with the police to pursue prosecutions.

The introduction of body cameras for traffic officers, in addition to vehicle cameras, has made it easier to capture incidents of both dangerous driving and abuse.

“It is in the highway code that people have to respond to our instructions, but they don’t always,2 said Reitsma. “They think ‘it is only a traffic officer’ and that they can do anything they like.

“Only when they are fined do some people realise it is illegal and also that it is not acceptable to be abusive to traffic officers who are just doing their job.”

Traffic officer Pippa Barnes, who is based at Watford Gap in the East Midlands, ran to the verge to avoid being hit by one vehicle when she attended an incident involving a broken-down vehicle on the A45.

She said: “The car was going really fast, around 70mph. They were coming towards my car and I thought ‘you are not going to make it’.

“The driver swerved at the last minute but hit a tanker instead, ripping her wing mirror off. She said she hadn’t seen our warning lights.”

Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, but Barnes added: “I am mindful, as all traffic officers are, of working in a live lane and what could happen.

“We do everything we can, we follow all of the rules around visibility. We put out signs and cones, we use signals and close lanes if we can.

“A-roads don’t have the technology of the main motorways and people don’t always anticipate there could be an obstruction.

“All we ask is that people are vigilant and realise that their journey isn’t always going to be straightforward, that things happen and there may be obstructions on the route. Think ahead, not just to the end of the bonnet.”

Footage has also been shared of a vehicle which drove through the middle of roadworks at a traffic island on the A5 despite a number of workers being in the road.

Footage captured by contractor Amey, shows a car driving into the roadworks near Magna Park in Leicestershire and past roadworkers and traffic management vehicles before weaving through a tiny gap in the lane closure to travel over the roundabout.

National Highways director of Health, Safety and Wellbeing, Mel Clarke, said: “Nobody should have to go to work knowing they may be at risk because of the reckless, thoughtless and dangerous actions of some people.

“Whilst most drivers respect the efforts of road workers who are out there day and night to enhance, maintain and keep our roads safe and running - there are a minority that choose to disrespect these key workers.   

“The safety and wellbeing of our own workforce and our supply chain workers is an absolute priority. Anyone who puts that safety at risk either intentionally or carelessly should be aware that it will not be tolerated and we will work with police to take action against those who do so.”