Meeting the Public at Motorway Service Areas
In June, the Central Motorway Police Group, in conjunction with our Traffic Officer Service, will be running 'meet the public' days at Motorway Service Areas.
See when traffic will be lightest
Our traffic forecaster can help get you there quicker
Traffic news on your desktop
Helpful ways to access the latest traffic information when you need it.
Travel Information and Safe Journey Briefing
Media Briefing: Travel Information and Safe Journeys from the Highways Agency
You will notice a difference when you drive on England's most important roads. The Highways Agency is helping drivers through new message signs, new Traffic Officers and new traffic control centres. We're working towards more reliable journeys and more informed travellers, as well as building new roads.
Safe Roads
The Highways Agency makes an important contribution to road safety in England and looks after our motorways and major trunk roads. The Agency works hard to make sure your journey is as safe and reliable as possible. We have carried out a number of programmes that have been put in place to carry out safety measures on our roads.
- Camera Safety Partnerships - The Highways Agency has joined a multi-agency partnership known as the the Safety Camera Partnership in West Mercia.
- Teaching Packs - A teaching pack entitled Just a Stone's Throw... designed to help children understand the dangers of dropping objects on to the motorway has been developed by the Highways Agency, in partnership with its agent Mouchel Parkman, RoSPA, Surrey Police, Surrey County Council and the Fire Service.
- Safe Driving Campaigns - A safer driving through roadworks campaign was launched in July 2002 with the sole objective of reducing the numbers of deaths and injuries to roadworkers on England's motorways and trunk roads.
Reliable Journeys
People want journeys to be reliable, rather than sometimes having long delays. So the Highways Agency is changing what you see on England's major roads:
- New message signs - we have put up more than 2,000 electronic message signs. The signs will warn you if traffic is slow or stopped in front of you.
- New Traffic Officers - Highways Agency Traffic Officers are now working with the Police to manage and clear incidents more efficiently.
- New Traffic Control Centres - there will be a national traffic control centre and seven regional control centres to help manage the flow of traffic.
- More investment - over the next three years the Highways Agency will invest £2.1 billion to improve safety and traffic flow on England's largest roads. We are already working on 14 major schemes and aim to start on another 35 by April 2008. This is on top of our usual road repair and safety work.
Informed Travellers
People also want to know about any delays to their journey in good time. They may choose a different way to go, or they may wait before they start their journey.
The Highways Agency can now provide much better information:
- Online real-time traffic information; or
- Call 08700 660 115 Calls from BT landline telephones to 0870 numbers will cost no more than 8p a minute; calls from mobile phones usually cost more
. . . and when you have started your journey, please listen to travel news on the radio.
