Highways Agency

The Role of a Traffic Officer

The last place you would want your children to be on a dark, cold Sunday evening in March is stranded at the side of a busy motorway junction.

But a group of 13 children travelling from Judo competition in East Yorkshire found themselves in exactly that situation when their minibus broke down on the way back to Bristol, at Junction 27 of the M1 motorway.

Luckily for the children, and the adults accompanying them, the minibus ground to a stop metres away from the Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service outstation at Felley just as officers Jim Brewster and Paul Williams were returning to the motorway after a rest break.

A further two Traffic Officer patrol vehicles quickly reached the scene and issued the children with foil blankets to ensure they were warm, and gave safety instructions to every passenger.

They were then taken to the safety of a nearby service area before the crews resumed their patrols on the M1. "It's the reason we became traffic officers, being able to help people in these sort of situations," said Paul. "We finished work that day with a Ready Brek kind of glow."
 
At two incidents in the South East, Traffic Officers were called on to help before their patrols had even started.

And in an unprecedented incident, several explosions at an oil depot in Hertfordshire meant the emergency services had to call on Traffic Officers to help with closures on the M1 and M10.

Although the Traffic Officers had not started to patrol these motorways, they assisted the police by setting up cordons to allow only emergency vehicle access, implemented rolling road closures to keep traffic at a safe speed through smoke and answered a large number of public enquiries at the scene.

Traffic Officers have made a significant impact since they first started patrolling in April 2004 and are now attending an average of over 900 incidents a day on the English motorway network.

The service began in the West Midlands and here, Traffic Officers reach 90 per cent of incidents within 15 minutes of dispatch and clear 83 per cent of incidents within 30 minutes of reaching the scene.

Staff at seven regional control centres across England manage and monitor traffic conditions, provide information to drivers and dispatch Highways Agency Traffic Officers to motorway incidents.

The Traffic Officer Service is part of a Government drive to cut congestion and was developed jointly with the police to help free up their time to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.

Approximately 25 per cent of all congestion on England’s motorways is caused by incidents. The Traffic Officer Service aims to cut congestion by focusing on these incidents and getting the traffic moving around them as quickly as possible.

Traffic Officers go on patrol looking for, or being directed to problems such as debris in the carriageway that could hinder your journey.

They also attend to broken down vehicles, making sure the occupants are safe and that a recovery service is on the way.

Officers have powers under the Traffic Management Act 2004 to stop and direct traffic or temporarily close roads. Traffic Officers support the police in their duties by, for example, applying road or lane closures around an incident to allow them to investigate.

The police are still responsible for managing major incidents and enforcing road traffic offences but Traffic Officers assist them by managing the safe clear up after the accident so the traffic can get moving again as quickly as possible. They can also arrange for the removal of damaged or abandoned vehicles that are causing an obstruction.

But it isn’t all just dealing with motorists and accidents for the Traffic Officers. Furry and feathered creatures could also cause chaos on the motorway if not dealt with quickly by the crews on patrol.

Each autumn, one of the busiest parts of the motorway network, the M3 and M25 near Heathrow experiences congestion caused by the unlikeliest of reasons – swans.

At this time of year, traffic near junction 13 of the M25, where it crosses the Thames, is disrupted by swans on the carriageway at least two or three times a day.

Traffic Officers have undertaken training with a local swan sanctuary to enable them to catch swans quickly and safely with minimal distress to the bird, allowing them to get the traffic moving as quickly as possible.

And an injured dog rescued by Traffic Officers Ian Johnstone and Graham Freeth on the M6 near Stoke-on-Trent in March is making a good recovery and is waiting to be rehomed.

Graham, from Erdington (pictured with the rescued dog), said: "We noticed the dog stranded between lane three and the central reservation of the motorway. The dog had obviously been hit and was injured. It was in a dangerous place and we needed to move it because motorists could have swerved to avoid it."

A rolling roadblock was put in place allowing the dog to be rescued and be taken to a nearby animal hospital where he was named Sam.

The Highways Agency Traffic Officer Service is already making a big impact on England's motorways. There is now a dedicated staff of 1,500 officers working 24-7 to help cut congestion and keep traffic moving.