Closed motorway congestion to be tackled

Date: 20/5/2011

A new strategy has been unveiled that will aim to tackle the issue of traffic jams caused by motorways closing.

Roads Minster Mike Penning unveiled the plans yesterday (May 19th 2011), which will see him, emergency services personnel, the Home Office and the Highways Agency all committing to a ten-point action plan.

It is hoped that this will mean closures will only occur for a minimal period of time when it is absolutely unavoidable.

Mr Penning revealed that the hours lost as a result of employees being stuck in congestion adds up to a total cost of £1 billion to the economy every year.

He also announced the availability of a £3 million fund that will be used to finance laser scanning technology for police forces that officers can use to speed up their investigation times.

"We are determined to improve clear-up times following accidents so we can get our motorways re-opened as quickly as possible," the minister said, adding that in 2010, there were more than 18,000 full or partial closures, which lasted a combined 20,000 hours.

TRL (the Transport Research Laboratory) launched the concept of laser scanning to collision investigators back in 2001 and have conducted many innovative investigations over the last ten years - including the Selby and Ufton Nervet rail crashes, together with many other serious crime and collision scenes.

Their most recent case concerned that of Malcolm Webster, who last week was found guilty of murdering his wife in a staged Aberdeenshire car crash and blaze back in 1994.

It involved TRL laser scanning of the crash site and a combination of vehicle simulation and 3D visualisation to reconstruct accident scenarios, which were then presented to the jury as evidence.

Posted by Mary Treen