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

  • Hanshin Expressway rents space at Osaka’s Gateway Tower building
    February 3, 2015
    Some cultures value face-saving over outright confrontation. The placing of infrastructure, be they roads, railways or buildings, often requires compromise on the part of all concerned – developers, highway designers, rail consultants and, not least, people who own the land. There may be no greater monument to this type of compromise than in the Japanese city of Osaka where the Hanshin Expressway meets the Gateway Tower building. Did we say ‘meet’? Not quite, as the highway does not touch the 16-storey off
  • IBTTA global summit 2014 takes a balanced view on sustainable transport
    October 8, 2014
    The upcoming International Bridge, Tunnel, and Turnpike Association (IBTTA) 2014 global summit in Prague, Czech Republic, will be focusing on “Sustainable Transport & Mobility for People and Goods” say the organisers with key sessions looking at “strategic issues such as interoperability (EETS/REETS), road safety, environmental protection, traffic in cities, big data, road user charging around the World and future developments, trends, and technologies.”
  • Don't miss the Intelligent Infrastructure Award at Highways UK
    August 10, 2016
    The deadline is fast approaching to submit a product for consideration in the Intelligent Infrastructure Hub at the Highways UK event in November. Highways UK is for people and organisations involved in - and passionate about - the planning, development, management and maintenance of the UK's roads. Last year the event, held in London, attracted 1,500 delegates. This year’s event from 16-17 November at the NEC in Birmingham is expected to have 2,500 attendees. An important part of Highways UK's remit
  • Remu’s a splash hit at INTERMAT
    January 6, 2017
    Finnish company REMU is keen for its Big Float 800 floating excavator to be a splash hit following its launch this week at INTERMAT. The amphibious machine weighs in at 12,500kg and can be transported even with three-axel trucks. With a boom length of 7.7m and digging depth of 4.1m the Big Float 800, like REMU’s other Big Float models, is completely floating and can be brought to a job site by land using its tracks or towed or driven with propellers along waterways.