ONE in three motorists in the North-East admits to speeding through temporary roadworks and rates of abuse to road workers are on the rise as the industry begs for greater legal protection.

New research reveals the actions of people behind the wheel as a petition has been launched calling for a change in law to ensure highways workers have the same level of protection against abuse as other key workers.

It may be the season of goodwill, but festive cheer doesn’t extend to roads in the North-East and across the country as one in three admit to speeding through roadworks, risking the safety of highways workers.

According to the report, commissioned by construction materials company Tarmac, 30 per cent of drivers polled in the North-East confessed to speeding through roadworks while Yorkshire and Humber saw a slightly higher figure at 35 per cent. 

People are noticing this roadside behaviour, with 28 per cent of motorists in the North-East saying that they’ve witnessed an altercation between a member of the public and a road worker. 

This is much higher than the national average of 17 per cent.

Some 58 per cent of drivers in the North-East believe that people are less considerate about roadworks than they were 10 years ago.

Nationally, drivers aged 18 to 24 confess to being the biggest speeders through roadworks, with 41 per cent admitting they do.

Despite highways workers delivering essential maintenance of roads, often at night, only 42 per cent of people consider them to be key workers. Motorists also 'didn’t appreciate' the level of vital roadworks that take place overnight.

Half of all motorists polled believe drivers are less considerate towards those repairing and maintaining our roads than 10 years ago.

The research comes as rates of abuse by members of the public towards highways workers are high.

Over 750 cases of aggression or verbal abuse - equivalent to one every other day – and over 150 threats of violence or actual attacks with a weapon - equivalent to almost one per week - have occurred since 2017.

Despite these alarming industry statistics, 83 per cent of drivers say they have never seen an altercation between a roadworker and a member of the public. 

Reports of abuse appear to be on the rise. Highways England said there were around 330 incidents reported from September 2019 to October 2020, an average of nearly one every day.

The road maintenance body also saw a 10 per cent increase in abuse incidents in the first 9 months of 2020 compared to the first 9 months of 2019 – with lower traffic flows in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Mark Byard, Director of Health and Safety at Highways England says: “We appreciate drivers get frustrated by roadworks but also that they understand the need for them, to keep families connected and the country in business.

"Each month we have around 175 reports of vehicles driving into roadworks, putting both road users and our roadworkers at risk.

"When you are driving through roadworks, please pay close attention and keep everyone safe.”

Tarmac is calling on the Government to change the law to ensure highways workers are afforded the same level of protection against abuse as emergency workers. 

Rachel Heaps, who is leading Tarmac’s support for Stamp it Out, an industry taskforce collaborating to protect employees from roadworker abuse, said: “Our research reflects a long term and underlying lack of respect for highways workers who help to keep Britain moving with a significant amount of activity taking place at night.

"Abuse and reckless driving are going unnoticed and it’s a case of out of sight and out of mind. Everyone should feel safe at work and it’s only right that we do everything to support the physical and mental wellbeing of highway teams who work round the clock to build and maintain our roads.

“2020 has rightly been a celebration of many other key workers’ contributions to society and we must also recognise the outstanding efforts of the UK’s unsung highways workers.

"While there might be less traffic this Christmas, we’d like to call on motorists to take extra care through roadworks as well as always being respectful to the workforce.”

To find out more about the petition, click here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/548480