Supporting Our Road Safety Heroes

We are supporting Brake Road Safety Week 

Monday 15th November - Sunday 21st November 

What is Brake’s Road Safety Campaign? 

Each year, the road safety charity, Brake, coordinates a week-long road safety campaign.  

This year, the theme is Road Safety Heroes, which aims to celebrate the heroic work of road safety professionals and explain how we can all play a part in making journeys safer for everyone.

Who are our Road Safety Heroes? 

From traffic control centre operators to emergency service workers such as paramedics and members of the police and fire and rescue, road safety heroes can be anyone who works to help make our roads safer.  

Often the first on scene at road and traffic incidents of all kinds, many road workers regularly find themselves on the front lines of road safety. Just like paramedics and police, road workers are a resounding example of road safety heroes. 

Whether it be responding to accidents, repairing roads, or clearing debris or snow, at Amey, road operatives work tirelessly to ensure that road users can complete their journeys safely. 

How can we support our Road Safety Heroes? 

Road workers play a vital role in keeping us safe. Unfortunately, the jobs and lives of many road workers are made increasingly difficult as a result of harassment and abuse from members of the public.  

This treatment of road workers not only greatly impacts their ability to carry out their important work but often has a huge negative impact on both their physical and mental health. 

A recent survey of Scottish road operatives discovered: 

• One in four of staff surveyed reported that the abuse they experienced at work had affected their mental health 
• Almost one in ten had been subject to physical abuse in the past year 
• One in five reported having missiles thrown at them in the past year
• Nearly two out of three roadworkers have at some point been verbally abused by passing motorists 

Below are interviews with Amey operatives whose stories unfortunately echo the above findings.

In order to be able to carry out the vital work they do, our road safety heroes must be treated with decency and respect.  

There are many ways in which we can all support our road safety heroes and help keep them safe.  

Please visit: https://www.brake.org.uk/road-safety-week for more information.