A WINTER road safety campaign is being launched across the region warning drivers of the dangers of using the hard shoulder to undertake gritters.

Highways England’s gritter drivers have noticed a growing number of motorists veering into the hard shoulder to avoid being struck by salt, risking a collision with a stationary vehicle and causing a hazard when gritters try to come off at junctions.

The latest statistics show that, on average, 16 people lose their lives every year as a result of collisions on hard shoulders or in laybys across England, and 45 suffer a serious injury.

Gritters usually travel at 40mph in the middle lane when they are spreading salt on a three-lane motorway, treating the lane they are in and one lane on either side.

Drivers are being advised to only pass a gritter when it is safe to do so, avoiding using the hard shoulder and checking for hazards ahead.

Simon Maxwell, 36, a gritter driver based at Highways England’s depot in Bradbury, near Sedgefield, County Durham, said: “Ninety-five per cent of drivers are sensible and respect that we are gritting the road for their own safety and stay behind you. You do get some drivers who will undertake you no matter what the weather conditions.”

“It is worse when you have the plough in front of the gritter. They come hurtling past you and don’t realise that you have another five or six foot in front of you and can often misjudge it and try pulling over too early.”

More than 12,000 tonnes of salt is being stored at four depots across the North-East and supplies will be topped up throughout the winter.

Twenty-one gritters are also on standby.

More details on staying safe on the roads this winter are available at metoffice.gov.uk/winterhighways