nobbyclark wrote:

Anybody else get caught up in the jam on the M62 last Thursday? A lorry took out the inside lane, so the whole of the M62 and approaches were like a car park.

And where were the Highways Agency, whose role is supposed to be keeping the roads clear? Poncing up and down the M6 and M61 in their D3s, Range Rovers and Shoguns, generally avoiding the situation, trundling along the inside lane, pretending to be police officers, and slowing down the 99% of road users who are not aware that these people are NOT POLICEMEN. Why didn't they use their shiny toys to try and move the blinking thing out the way? And the infuriation got me thinking...

Why do they have £30+ grand's worth of 4x4 anyway? All they do is drive on wide, smooth tarmac and therefore not needing the most capable off-roaders on the planet, I would have thought. Now before you all think I'm a tree hugger come to this site to protest, I am not. I'm a card carrying Land Rover owner (often-used Land Rover Assistance card, that is) and have been since 1992. And always will be, when the missus let's me spend the kids' inheritance on a D3 or Range Rover. If the Highways boys need a vehicle with lots of space, seating for 4 or 5 and 'commanding view', buy them some Ford Transits. That's all they need.

In fact I've worked out why they drive Solihull's finest. Tory Plan B and Golden Gordon got wind that I wanted a new Land Rover, so they decided to spend a lot of my hard-earned tax on several of them, but not to drive, only to gawp at on the motorway.

Right, I'm off to tone this rant down and send it to The Times.

adam wrote:

And rumour is soon they will be given limited powers - similar to Specials
What fun they can have then
Adam

is that like traffic wardens acting in the capacity of police then?... i.e. they can be given the power to stop traffic... if you see one trying to do this and ignore them, when challenged by plod you just reply "I didn't know that warden 666 had been temporarily been given the authority to act as police".... case dismissed

adam wrote:

Not sure - time will tell

well they might turn out to be the fascists of the highway - what the hell, Mussolini got the trains to run on time

Quote:

Hi there

Can you tell me why your patrol staff use Land Rovers, Shoguns and other off-roaders to monitor the road system, when all they do is drive on wide, smooth motorway surfaces?

If you need to have a vehicle with plenty of storage space, seating for 4 or 5 and a 'commanding view' of the road, why don't you buy Transit vans?

Your use of 4x4s appears to be totally inappropriate and is giving more fuel to the vocal minority who would like to see such vehicles punitively taxed.

Also, the cost of buying, running and maintaining these vehicles must be far in excess of the sums required to run more appropriate transport. It would be a more economic use of my tax to utilise vans or estate cars for the purpose of patrolling the road network.

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Quote:

I was reading about your environment plan on your website. Can you tell me how this plan tallies with your use of environmentally unfriendly 4x4s to patrol the motorways? Would it not make more sense to use a less harmful vehicle to meet your requirements?

I look forward to your reply.

Regards

Quote:

Your query to HAIL has been passed to me for reply as my team is
responsible for the delivery of vehicles to the Traffic Officer Service.

To answer your questions I have used a number of headings for clarity.

Why 4x4?- Our Traffic Officers need all weather patrol capability to
meet the 24hour/7day - 365 day requirements of the Service, having 4
wheel drive capability meets this requirement. Traffic officers also need
to be able to drag damaged, broken down or abandoned vehicles clear of
the carriageway, we also have a payload (driver, passengers and
equipment) of 625 kg. The requirement for Traffic Officers to be able to see
out of the rear and sides of the vehicle (for example when they have to
reverse backwards on the motorway within a coned of area to safely
collect traffic management equipment) rules out closed sided van type
bodywork. The combination of these requirements dictate the type and model of
vehicles and only certain vehicles are suitable.

Why not vans/estates? - These vehicles do not meet our vehicle needs.
Either they have the 4x4 capability but not the payload, or they have
the payload but not the 4x4/visibility capability.

Models - We now have 5 models on our fleet. Range Rover, LR Discovery,
Shogun, Toyota Landcruiser and Nissan Pathfinder.

Traffic Officer Duties - The Service aim is to keep traffic moving and
making journeys on our network as safe as possible. Patrolling is a key
element, but each incident encountered can involve a range of issues.
In the West Midlands region, where the service commenced in April 2004
we have attended some 20,000 incidents, which have included breakdowns,
accidents, obstructions and debris on the carriageway.

Running costs - All vehicles are leased rather than purchase, thus we
have a replacement cycle which would if necessary allow us to change the
vehicles. All models are diesel and the vehicles are in general
achieving above combined/urban fuel consumption.

Alternative vehicle types/fuels - we continue to look at options but
our requirements limit the viable options.

The vehicles are appropriate to our needs, which are determined by the
functions and duties of Traffic Officers.

The Traffic Officer Service is a new concept both for the Highways
Agency and England's motorway network. We are learning through experience,
which will include an ongoing review of our vehicle needs.

We will always seek to achieve best value, but this has to take into
account the defining requirements, this includes to selection of vehicles
that are required for the Traffic Officer Fleet set against the
functions and demands. If the functions/duties or indeed experience of
operating the Traffic Officer Service nationally in all 7 regions (all in
place by early Spring 2006) result in any specification changes dictating a
change in vehicle needs, then we will take these on board as part of
the cyclic replacement of the fleet.

I trust that the above answers your points.

Quote:

Thank you for your query which the HA is presently looking into
However before we can proceed please can you let me know to which
Environmental plan you are referring to please

Quote:

My earlier reply explained why we have the vehicles that we do and that
at present there are no viable alternatives.

Future corporate documents will need to take account of the new Traffic
Officer Service and its implications across the board.

Realistically, adding 147 vehicles, our current intended fleet total,
on England's motorway network will have no measurable effect.