• What are Traffic Officers?
• What equipment do Traffic Officers carry?
• What training does a Traffic Officer receive?
• What advice can Traffic Officers give?

What are Traffic Officers?

Traffic Officers, sometimes referred to as HATO’s, are employees of the Highways Agency, which is part of the Department For Transport.

The agency is responsible for the maintenance and operation of England’s “Strategic” road network. This includes all of england’s motorways and some “A” class trunk road dual carriageways.

The role is varied, and includes the following responsibilities:

• Removal of debris from the carriageway
• Conducting high visibility patrols
• Managing traffic around incidents
• Attending and overseeing the clear up of Road Traffic Collisions, and motorists who have broken down.
• Providing mobile and temporary road closures

HATO’s as uniformed public servants of the Crown, carry several legal powers to enable them to undertake their role. These include powers to stop and direct traffic, powers of a constable to place temporary signage, and powers to remove abandoned and damaged vehicles. It is an offence not to comply with the direction of a Traffic Officer. These powers were conferred under the Traffic Management Act 2004. They patrol in their fleet of high visibility black and yellow battenburged vehicles, and wear distinctive high visibility jackets with orange shoulders and Highways Agency logos on the front, rear and embossed into the reflective tape.

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What equipment do Traffic Officers carry?

Standard equipment carried includes:

• 20 x traffic cones in 4x stacks of 5.
• 9 x flashing, synchronized road lamps
• 5 x reversible arrow divert signs (610’s)
• 3 x INCIDENT SLOW signs
• 1 x NO ENTRY Sign (known as a 616)
• 2 x brooms, 1x shovel, 1x crowbar, 2x 5l water containers, a “panther” searchlight, fire extinguisher, fire blanket, chemical spill kit, first aid kit, gloves, barrier tape, windscreen punch/seatbelt cutters, binoculars, and a set of towing strops.

All vehicles also carry a supply of foil survival blankets and waterproof disposable ponchos for giving out to broken down motorists and those unfortunate enough to be involved in accidents during adverse weather conditions. All patrol vehicles vehicles are currently fitted with amber and red flashing LED lighting, as well as scene lamps on both sides. There is rumour that these will one day be replaced with blue lights, but for now we will have to wait and see. These could be useful when undertaking standing traffic on the hard shoulder in order to get to incidents, or to give a more distinct warning whilst on scene, due to the high volume of vehicles now using amber lighting.

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What training does a Traffic Officer receive?

Training is undertaken over a period of time.

Firstly 4 weeks in a classroom, learning about

• our role
• the theory of traffic management
• the law
• handling and giving evidence
• health and safety
• people skills
• diversity and first aid

A further week is then spent on a “mock” motorway at either Throckmorton, or Alconbury airfields, putting skills learned into practice. This is followed by a further week of advanced driver training out on a variety of roads, and also learning to safely carry out manoevers such as reversing up hard shoulders, reversing onto observation platforms and using emergency crossing points and access roads, which most motorists don’t even know exist! This is then followed by a period of work spent restricted to duties on the hard shoulder. Traffic officers then undergo a period of “live lane” assessment with an external assessor (mostly retired traffic police officers), before becoming “designated” and able to work in live lanes, using their legal powers independently.

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What advice can Traffic Officers give?

Motorway Safety:

If you are unfortunate to break down, or be involved in an accident whilst traveling on the motorway, please follow our safety advice:

1. Use the hard shoulder as a deceleration lanes and Stop on it as far from the traffic as possible.
   
2. Switch on hazard warning lights.
   
3. Get everyone out of the car and onto the grass
   Verge, preferably behind a safety barrier.
4. Walk to the nearest SOS (orange) telephone to Call for help. This is a direct link to the Highways Agency control room. The operator will know your Exact location and may be able to see you on cctv. SOS telephones are spaced at mile intervals and an arrow on the marker posts, located on the verge every 100 metres points to the nearest one. NEVER CROSS THE MOTORWAY TO USE AN SOS TELEPHONE.
   
5. Once you have called for help, return to your vehicle and wait on the verge. Despite reports that women have been attacked whilst broken down on the hard shoulder, there is a much higher risk of your vehicle being struck from behind by a high speed goods vehicle.
   
6. Wait in the location. Traffic Officers work 24 hours a day and will be with you shortly.

If you are involved in an accident, and you cannot move your vehicle, wait in either the central reservation behind the barrier, or follow procedure above. If anyone is injured, make sure you tell the operator the nature of any injuries, and also if anyone is trapped so that the ambulance and fire service, as well as police and HATOs can be dispatched. Try to keep everyone out of the live lanes. If you use a mobile telephone, dial 112 instead of 999 as it is easier to trace your location if you are unsure. Always use numbers on nearby marker posts or gantry signals. The control room will know where you

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