Nigel Grainger brings together a related set of skills that all fleets require, to greater or lesser
degrees, but which may not have the staffing or the skills to fulfil those needs.
Bringing his wealth of experience in all areas of fleet management he offers a bespoke service through his company Fleet Risk Consultants, providing you with a cost effective fleet that complies fully with your 'duty of care' requirements.Risk Management – Using all the available Tarmac on the Motorway
I thought I would give a Risk Management perspective on the recent discussion about the plans to extend the use of the Hard Shoulder of Motorways in the UK as a live running lane during busy periods.
The way the system works is this. The existing Hard Shoulder is upgraded to a running lane standard and periodic lay-byes are created as safety zones. Then overhead signs are added to allow variable speed management and running lane management, as series of cameras are added to allow total coverage of the road. Cameras are also installed to allow the management of the new variable speed limits.
Once all of these measures are in place they are now in a position to use the hard shoulder as a live lane when the traffic volumes warrant it. At this point the speeds are all lowered to a maximum of 60 mph, but usually 50 mph. This allows an increased volume of traffic at a reduced speed and uses all of the available road surface.
There are some risks to this operation as the Hard Shoulder has historically been a place to stop in an emergency, it has never been a safe place to stop though! Under the new system the ability to stop in an emergency is still available, but the road controllers need to be vigilant so they can close that lane to running traffic.
Overall I think the idea is a good one and the trial on the M42 in the Midlands has been a success. It also means that we do not have to remove more of the countryside on each side of the existing motorways to gain an increase in vehicle capacity.
Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant