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

  • XCMG to create R&D base in the United States
    January 6, 2017
    Leading Chinese construction equipment manufacturing firm XCMG has revealed plans to open a new research and development facility in the United States. Speaking at bauma 2013 Wang Yansong, the company’s vice president, said, “In the second half of this year we are planning to build a R&D centre in the United States. It’ll take about half a year to finish construction. It should open in 2014.” While Yansong would not reveal how much XCMG was investing in the US site, he said it was due to America, along with
  • XCMG to create R&D base in the United States
    April 16, 2013
    Leading Chinese construction equipment manufacturing firm XCMG has revealed plans to open a new research and development facility in the United States. Speaking at bauma 2013 Wang Yansong, the company’s vice president, said, “In the second half of this year we are planning to build a R&D centre in the United States. It’ll take about half a year to finish construction. It should open in 2014.” While Yansong would not reveal how much XCMG was investing in the US site, he said it was due to America, along with
  • UK report suggests 30km Pennine tunnel with robotic maintenance
    December 2, 2015
    The UK could build one of Europe’s longest road tunnels as it considers route options for a new major link connecting the cities of Manchester and Sheffield in England. An interim report looking at how best to connect the cities suggested that the road could be between 40km-50km, depending on the route. It “will include a tunnelled section, which could range from between 20-30km, making it one of the longest road tunnels ever built”.
  • IRF calling for road safety presentations for Saudi Arabia and Washington DC events
    October 12, 2015
    The International Road Federation (IRF) is calling for presentations on road safety for events in Saudi Arabia and Washington DC. These presentations should be on Roadside Safety, Work Zone Safety and Vulnerable User Safety. They will be made at the IRF Middle East Regional Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from December 15th to December 17th, 2015.