Road maintenance teams are vital to keeping Scotland’s roads usable and safe for all drivers, however the men and women who work on our roads are being put at serious risk by drivers who disregard roadworks signage and signalling.
In the last 12 months, we have recorded 18 cases of unauthorised vehicles driving into its work sites, sometimes at speed. These incursions, as they are officially called, put road workers at risk of injury or death while they do their job.
Of the 18 separate cases of incursions into worksites, 12 were reported to police and several people were charged, including a drunk driver and a driver that tested positive for cocaine. Two serious injuries resulted from incursions.
Our 2022 roadworker survey highlights the potential scale of the problem:
Duncan Crilley, our operations supervisor, says: “You see it every day –people jumping lights. Drivers racing through convoy set-ups, cones, and barriers. People should respect roadworkers. They are only doing their job. I feel relieved when my team come in and nothing has happened, they are heading home to their families. That is what drivers need to remember: drive past roadworkers as if they are your family – they are someone’s family.”
We have put various systems in place to minimise the risk to its on-site teams, including CCTV, dashcams and bodycams. However, public awareness is the key to minimising the day-to-day risk to road maintenance workers.
Sandra Wilson, our health, safety, and risk manager, explains: “It is everyone’s right to come home from work uninjured. Every day our road working teams rely on drivers making good choices. One risk can put numerous lives in danger, including that of the driver and their passengers.
“In a bid to minimise our team’s risks, we have implemented the use of the latest technology. Our on-site teams now have a variety of CCTV vehicles, dashcams, bodycams and incursion alarms to help protect them. This also allows us to provide police with evidence where necessary. We hope that, if the public is increasingly aware these measures are in place, it will deter them from taking risks around roadworks and playing Russian roulette with workers’ lives.”
See our Youtube video on Roadworker Safety: Incursions here:
Duncan Crilley, Operations Supervisor, BEAR Scotland
“Every day my traffic management team is phoning the police because somebody has jumped lights or tried to race through convoy set ups. They think they know the traffic light timings and have time to get through. They don’t understand the implications of speeding through.
“It is dangerous. Say we have a 10 miles per hour convoy set up. It is 10 miles per hour for a reason. We have the team working right on the lines – lining out or surfacing the road. The team don’t have a safety zone around them because it is being controlled by a 10 mile an hour traffic limit. You will always get one driver who thinks they can catch up with the convoy by breaking the speed limit and driving through the cones or barriers. One of my team got hit like this two years ago. The driver got out of his car and shouted abuse at the team.
“Drivers get abusive. They shout and swear. They throw objects at us. I have been hit by a bottle of urine before. I am thankful it wasn’t open. It caught my back and it hurt. I have also been in a digger when somebody threw an apple at me. He threw it with such force it smashed the digger’s side window.
“People need to take deep breaths. They don’t have to get there as fast as possible. They have got to realise that there are going to be roadworks. There are going to be accidents in the road. They have no right to take their temper out roadworkers.
“Drivers should fully respect the teams working on the road. Pay attention to every sign. Signs are there for information purposes. They will tell you where you are going. Don’t take it out on the worker that has put these signs out. It is not their fault. They is only doing his job. It can be a dangerous job, but we still need do it.”
Winter Portal 
Planned Works 
Report a Defect