An inflatable safety barrier will be trialled by Highways England to protect workers in roadworks.
The airbag, which is “large, bright and very visible”, can be inflated in under 10 minutes and Highways England said it aims to reduce the number of motorists that mistakenly drive into work areas putting both road workers and the driver at risk.
It has been reported by workers that there are over 200 incidents of vehicle incursions every month. Highways England’s Midland innovation manager, Lisa Maric, said the organisation is concerned by the frequency of these incidents, especially as the consequences can be fatal. “We are committed to keeping our workforce safe and doing all we can to ensure no-one is harmed when travelling or working on our network,” she said.
“We are also committed to investing in new innovations to help improve safety for road workers and users. We hope these airbags will go some way to protecting our workers but also help change drivers’ behaviours. We ask drivers to respect our road workers, to slow down near works and obey speed limits and signs.”
In partnership with traffic management company Kier, the trial will be carried out on a slip road of the A45/A46 Stivichall interchange in Coventry during roadworks later this month. Highways England said it hopes the inflatable barrier will acts deterrent to drivers who vehicles unknowingly enter work sites as other driver attempt to exit a motorway or A road.
Kier Highways senior project manager, Mark Sheppard, said: “The Vehicle Incursion Airbag project will give us a great opportunity to trial something a little bit different, to supplement the standard approach to road worker protection measures. Hopefully, it’ll help towards making the network a safer place for drivers and our workforce.”
