Skip to main content

UK road maintenance industry’s new safe driving through roadworks radio campaign

Leading UK road maintenance companies have this week joined together with the Highways Agency to launch a national radio campaign to ask drivers to ‘take extra care’ through roadworks. Messages being aired on commercial radio stations across England from 21st October-3rd November consist of a series of three hard-hitting messages to raise awareness among the public of the need to drive safely through roadworks.
October 22, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
The UK’s road maintenance industry has launched a radio campaign asking drivers to ‘Take Extra Care’ through roadworks
Leading UK road maintenance companies have this week joined together with the 2309 Highways Agency to launch a national radio campaign to ask drivers to ‘take extra care’ through roadworks.

Messages being aired on commercial radio stations across England from 21st October-3rd November consist of a series of %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal three hard-hitting messages audioboo.fm/BalfourBeattyCSUK false https://audioboo.fm/BalfourBeattyCSUK false false%> to raise awareness among the public of the need to drive safely through roadworks.

The campaign is being run jointly by A-One+, 2958 Amey, 1146 Balfour Beatty, 2435 Carillion, Enterprise 2377 Mouchel, Connect Roads, Connect Plus (M25), Galliford Try, 3081 Sir Robert McAlpine and 2296 Skanska UK, who provide services to the Highways Agency. The companies are all members of the Roadworkers Safety Forum, a group dedicated to reducing accidents and injuries to roadworkers.  

Every year there are hundreds of incursions into roadworks which put road workers lives at risk and lead to deaths and serious injury. These adverts focus on the lack of awareness of some drivers that roadworks are a place of work for thousands of people and that all of us have a right to expect a safe working environment.

The first message consists of a series of sirens and bells and makes a direct appeal to HGV drivers to ‘wake up’ and a voice reminds them that roadworkers are ‘made of flesh and blood’.

The second message plays a recording of a ‘sat-nav’ voice instructing a driver to plough through orange cones and kill a father of two, and ends with the message “The next time you’re approaching road works, think about the road workers, think about their families.”

The final message replays the sounds of a crash and reminds listeners that roadworks are a work place like any other.

The adverts are being broadcast during the Highways Agency’s Road Safety Awareness Week which will see awareness events taking place across the country, including the release of some hard-hitting CCTV footage which shows some of the worst incursions into roadworks on a motorway.

Tony Gates, managing director Balfour Beatty, and chair of the 2479 Highways Term Maintenance Association, which represents companies that carry out roadworks, said,  “For some reason a small minority of drivers still find it acceptable to put road workers lives in danger by not taking care when they go through roadworks. These adverts are about reminding road users that road works are like any other work place, and our workers have just as much right to work in a safe environment.”

Andy Jamieson, managing director for A-One+, said, “We launched these adverts locally last year and they proved very successful so we were delighted our colleagues across the industry have joined to support us in the first ever national radio campaign to raise awareness of roadworkers safety.”

Highways Agency asset director David Brewer said, “Improving safety at roadworks takes real collaboration across the roads industry, and I am delighted that these companies have come together to jointly fund this advertising campaign. It epitomises the spirit of co-operation that exists in our supply chain on this important issue as we continue our work to ensure that nobody comes to harm as a result of working for us - which is what our health and safety strategy 'Aiming for Zero' is all about.”

The UK road maintenance industry radio campaign ads can be heard %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal <strong>here </strong> audioboo.fm/BalfourBeattyCSUK false https://audioboo.fm/BalfourBeattyCSUK false false%>

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Construction corruption causes costs to climb
    December 21, 2012
    People are stealing our money ! According to the World Bank Report: “Curbing Fraud, Corruption and Collusion in the Roads Sector” June 2011. “…roads projects around the globe remain plagued by fraud, corruption and collusion…” In some countries, contractors are refusing to participate in tenders/bids because of the extent of corruption. I hope to encourage you to take action to fight Fraud and Corruption (FC). It is impossible to precisely know the extent of Fraud and Corruption. The reason is simple. If F
  • Gomaco 4400 slipform paves the way
    January 6, 2017
    Gomaco’s new 4400 slipform paver could help the company cash in on new European Union CE certification for highway safety barriers. The 4400 makes Gomaco one of only a handful of manufacturers with equipment to slipform the Brit Pave Safety Barrier – the only barrier that currently meets new European Union CE certification for highways set to become compulsory in July 2013. Rory Keogh, Gomaco’s managing director for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and CIS, is excited about the potential market for the firm’s
  • Gomaco 4400 slipform paves the way
    April 16, 2012
    Gomaco’s new 4400 slipform paver could help the company cash in on new European Union CE certification for highway safety barriers. The 4400 makes Gomaco one of only a handful of manufacturers with equipment to slipform the Brit Pave Safety Barrier – the only barrier that currently meets new European Union CE certification for highways set to become compulsory in July 2013. Rory Keogh, Gomaco’s managing director for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and CIS, is excited about the potential market for the firm’s
  • Hi-viz hijinks make a flockery of saftey clothing
    September 16, 2015
    Fashionable they aren’t, but the wearing of high-visibility clothing is increasingly either recommended by businesses or made mandatory by law, especially for construction workers on every kind of site. But has the use of “hi-vis” clothing, especially the vest, gone too far? In Britain, the wearing of the hi-viz clothing has taken off - literally, according to a BBC television news report that shows a flock of chickens wearing the fluorescent coloured vest.