During this last week I have been doing several sessions of driver training involving very busy Motorways, and one Question has come up a lot during the briefing, on how much todays drivers really know about our Motorway networks?

It is the sign now seen a lot on the grass verge along side the carriageway.

It has a blue background ( of course all motorway signs are Blue ) rectangular in shape, portrait style, with yellow writing…

The writing for example says…

So this sign means if you witness a accident or your car has broken down, you can tell the Emergency Services exactly where you are or near.

The middle letter could be A or B because this tells you which direction you are travelling.

On the M25 A is in Clockwise direction and B is Anticlockwise.

The numbers below ( 43 .8 for example ) tells you how many kilometres you are from the Junction 1 on the M25.

One driver I was with thought it was the number he needed to be on to get best reception on his car radio!!

Another problem on our roads is the amount of roadworks taking place, again the motorways I was using this week seemed to have the most, yes they were working during daylight hours and many many drivers were not slowing down, where the road workers were working, one place where there were no average speed cameras, but warning signs on the overhead gantry’s to slow down did not seem to be very effective.

These road workers are taking high risks, perhaps drivers should change places, and for instance imagine they are sitting at the office desk with fast traffic moving past them!!

Perhaps a good way to remember what the word SLOW means:

Keep within the speed limits is for everybody’s safety, get in correct lane, always keep alert, leave plenty of distance from the vehicle in front…

Motorways have hard shoulders, and yes these can be a dangerous place to be,dont forget you only stop on the hard shoulder in an EMERGENCY...

If you have to use them pull onto the hard shoulder as near to the left as possible, if it is dark keep your sidelights on, and hazard lights…

Leave the vehicle by the left hand doors ( this includes all passengers as well ) leave animals in the vehicle to prevent any running onto the carriageway.

Keep all children under control, don’t attempt any repairs to the vehicle.

The Emergency telephones on the Motorway are one mile apart, and signs at the rear of the hard shoulder will tell you where the nearest direction they are.

When using the telephone keep facing towards the oncoming traffic, the use of the phone which is linked to police control is free of charge.

In preference it is best to use the motorway phone rather than a mobile as the operator will be able to locate your position easier, and help can be with you early.

Remember about 50 people a year are killed or seriously injured in hard shoulder accidents. Our Motorways should be the safest places for drivers to drive on, with all the traffic going in same direction, no on coming traffic, yes we need to watch slip roads entering and leaving where many drivers can get side-swiped.

But most of all lets keep to a safe travelling distance from vehicle in front … a minimum of 2 seconds in real good conditions, BUT in adverse weather we must all double the distance in order to pull up safely…