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kil0 closure renews call for rapid clean-up plans
Page 7
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I by Chris Tindall emands for a reduction the length of time otorways are closed Pllowing road traffic xidents were renewed is week, after part of a M20 was shut for nine )urs.
The Freight Transport ssociation (FTA) blasts Jch delays as "totally unaciptable" and "crazy". It is callg for a motorway emergency cident plan to be set up to get affic moving as soon as possi
e following road accidents. "The expenditure required
f swift treatment of such inc13nts would be enormously teaper than the cost of lengthy :lays," says FTA director, trnes Hookham. "Investment in luipment, manpower and protdures for swift re-opening of ajor motorways following .1cidents is now an urgent priity for the government."
Mike Mahoney, a Kent-based icovery operator, says the UK should adopt an initiative used in the USA: "Whenever there's a pile-up they literally push stuff out of the way. It's called the Minute Man Operation."
Mahoney says the average time for police and crash investigators to carry out their work should be two hours, even in serious accidents. Vehicles could then be brought in and the area flooded with labour to aid the removal of any obstructions and allow traffic flow through.
However, the Highways Agency says it is already looking at new ways to reduce the time motorists have to wait after a crash. "We have introduced rapid response vehicles on the M25 and we have new technology like Active Traffic Management and signage to warn people earlier of crashes," says a spokesman.
• A Preston-based heavy recovery firm is planning to establish a network of recovery operators to deal with breakdowns and help minimise the time vehicles remain on hard shoulders. Millers of Longton hopes to create a network using low-loading trailers to take replacement tractors to the scene and then move the broken-down vehicle back to the nearest dealer.