80% of road workers have been verbally or physically abused by motorists, according to a survey for National Motorway Month released by the RAC Foundation with 40% of workers being abused on either a daily or weekly basis. In the survey, almost 80% of ‘near misses’ recorded at roadworks in the last 12 months were due to poor driver behaviour.
A third of this abuse was reported as involving acts of extreme aggression, including: food, bottles and other missiles being hurled at the them from passing vehicles, and some workers said they had even been shot at with air rifles.
This is not good as while motorway and trunk road maintenance is a vital service for road users, it does not give motorists the right to vent our their frustration at the poor workers.
To tackle the serious issues of roadworker safety and roadworker abuse, motorway operating companies are asking drivers to consider the dangers that roadworkers are up against with vehicles rushing past at speeds often topping 70mph with only a plastic cone, hard hat and high visibility clothing to protect them.
Short-term and overnight works are where the workers are often at their most vulnerable which seriously surprised me as I would have betted on daytime as most drivers travelling on holiday inevitably drive during the day.
But this is disgraceful behaviour so come on, don’t blame the workers for your frustration, stop and punch the air a few times then resume your journey.