A Day in the Life of our Highways Agency Traffic Officer - Bob Heath
| Published: 1st March 2007 14:42 |
Local Traffic Officer, Bob Heath, talks to AboutMyArea/DE74 about what it's like patrolling our patch of the M1. "When you're a Traffic Officer for the Highways Agency every day is different" he says.
Highways Agency Traffic Officers - Jim Hewson & Bob Heath
When you start a shift you know that within minutes you could be dealing with accidents, closing the motorway for overturned lorries, dealing with stray animals or removing debris lying in the carriageway causing vehicles to swerve.
My name is Bob Heath and I am a Highways Agency Traffic Officer patrolling the M1 in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. Today I'm teamed up with my crew mate Jim Hewson.
Although we love the unpredictability of the job, some things are the same every day. Each shift starts with a briefing with our supervisor. Today we are on the early shift which starts at 6am. Next comes the 'powder' check. This is like a 'pre-flight' check of our vehicle to ensure diesel, oil, water, tyres and electrics are in order.
We also look for damage and see that our cones, signs, lights, brooms, shovels and foil blankets are in order before setting off.
Within minutes, we have received our first call over the radio. The Regional Control Centre in Nottingham has spotted some debris on the motorway, and we are sent to investigate.
It turns out that there is a tyre between lane three and the central reservation. It isn't an urgent job, and a rolling road closure during the rush hour will cause too much disruption, so we decide to move it later.
It's 7.23am when we spot a car with its boot open parked at the end of the slip road at junction 24A. A man is standing next to the car and we stop behind to investigate.
While Jim calls the RCC to inform them of the situation, I approach the driver.
The man had a blow out joining the motorway and was shaken by the experience. Jim joins me at the side of the road because it isn't safe for us to sit in our vehicles on the hard shoulder. We always advise motorists to do the same - and if it's cold or wet we carry foil blankets and rain ponchos for them to use. I give safety advice to the driver, and as he is happy for us to leave we resume our patrol leaving him to wait for his recovery service.
When the traffic becomes lighter at 9.35am, we put a rolling road closure in place together with another crew.
While that crew has the job of walking across three lanes of motorway to pick up the tyre we spotted earlier, we slow down the traffic to a stop using our vehicle.
In effect the road is temporarily closed to protect our Traffic Officers, but without holding up motorists too much.
The RCC sets the overhead motorway signs to warn motorists that there is debris in the carriageway and gives a 50mph speed limit.
While the other crew get in position on the hard shoulder we start to reduce the traffic speed. Our car moves into the middle lane and we both put our arms out of the window giving the signal to motorists to stay behind. We also display "DON'T PASS" on the rear sign and put our rear lights on.
It all goes smoothly, and once the debris is clear, we display "THANK YOU" on the sign at the back of the car and wave the traffic past us.
Our lunch break is scheduled for 10.15am but the second we enter the outstation we receive a call dispatching us to a location past Junction 25 on the southbound carriageway.
A man calling from an emergency roadside telephone has had a blow-out after hitting something which had fallen from a lorry.A man calling from an emergency roadside telephone has had a blow-out after hitting something which had fallen from a lorry. After searching the area, we spot a piece of metal, but it is now in the central reservation and of no risk to traffic.
This afternoon it's my turn behind the wheel. We go back on the road at noon and there isn't much left of the shift.
One of our biggest tests so far has been the strong winds which hit the motorways in the East Midlands and nationally on Thursday January 18. In an 11 hour period on that day we dealt with as many incidents as we would usually, as a team, in 24 hours.
We were busy making sure traffic got moving again as soon as it was safe to do so, and informing motorists what was happening further along the route using the variable message signs above the motorway.
Our role is to deal with accidents on the motorways and A42, remove damaged and abandoned vehicles, clear dangerous debris from the road, undertake high visibility patrols and provide mobile and temporary road closures. We also work alongside the police at serious incidents on the motorways.
Today, our shift ends at 2pm with a debrief at the outstation discussing the day's events before we head off onto the roads again, this time to join the rest of the motorists and head home.
A quiet day all in all, but that's the way we like it. Our aim is to keep traffic moving, but if the worst happens, then we're there to assist and speed up the clearance operation.
Bob Heath and Jim Hewson never have a dull moment in this job and we at AboutMyArea/DE74 say "It's good to know you are out there Bob and Jim if we need you!"
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