| National Highways traffic officer | |
| Activity Sector: | Government, road traffic control, vehicle recovery, roadside assistance |
| Employment Field: | Motorways in England operated by National Highways and select trunk roads. |
| Related Occupation: | Road policing unit, Traffic guard |
National Highways traffic officers, previously Highways Agency traffic officers (HATO), are employed by the National Highways in England.[1]
In April 2004, Highways Agency traffic officers began working alongside the police on motorways in the West Midlands.
The first national roll-out of traffic officers was completed on 18 July 2006, starting to cover all of the motorway network within England, i.e. which functions as a subsidiary of the National Highways, and the All-Purpose Trunk Road (APTR) network.
On 1 April 2015, the Highways Agency was incorporated into Highways England, a government-owned company.
On 19 August 2021, Highways England was renamed to National Highways. However, the company only manages roads within England.
Traffic operations play a significant role in achieving National Highways's three imperatives of safety, customer service and delivery. Its goal is to assist in keeping the roads clear and to ensure the road users' safety. HATOs provide customer service and the delivery of schemes and projects, providing key services such as rolling roadblocks. This is achieved through the planning and delivery of operational services, the function undertaken by on-road traffic officers, the management of the network from National Highways's control centres, the services National Highways supply to the public, and its national incident liaison role. This aim is underpinned by legislative and regulatory requirements, the Network Operations Partnership Agreement and the National Guidance Framework agreed with the National Police Chiefs' Council.[2]
Traffic officers wear high-visibility jackets, distinctive by the orange and yellow markings. All staff who work on the network are required to wear protective equipment such as safety boots, gloves and safety goggles. Staff have the option to wear a white collared shirt and tie, an open necked white shirt or a navy collared polo shirt. All officers carry portable Airwave radios.
Traffic officers patrol the motorway network[3] and all-purpose trunk roads in high-visibility patrol vehicles, that feature black and yellow Battenburg liveries, and amber and red rear-facing lighting.
The vehicles have all-wheel drive capabilities and are used to assist in the management of incidents and, where appropriate, clear broken-down or disabled vehicles to places of safety off the carriageways. The vehicles can operate in severe weather and carry equipment including emergency traffic management kits, automated external defibrillators (AED), and other specialised equipment required to safely remove vehicles and deal with a range of different incidents. The combination of the vehicles' size, liveries and ancillary lighting enhances their visibility when positioned at incidents. They are also fitted with Airwave radios, hands-free mobile telephones, alternating flashing headlights and bull horns to assist with progressing through stationary traffic on approach to incidents. They also have variable message panels (VMP) in the rear windows which display messages such as "do not pass" for rolling roadblocks or scrolling "keep left and right" chevrons for use at incidents.
When travelling on hard shoulders, vehicles use front- and rear-facing amber lighting, and are restricted to 20 mph. When stationary on a hard shoulder, vehicles illuminate rear-facing amber LEDs. However, when a vehicle is working in a carriageway all the rear-facing lights (amber and red) are displayed to warn approaching traffic. Traffic officers, unlike police, must comply with all speed limits, including temporary mandatory limits in roadworks.
While stationary on a hard shoulder and if a traffic officer feels it is necessary – because of the weather, location or road layout – they may use the rear red lights, in addition to the amber lights. This will be noted in the traffic officer's pocket notebook as a dynamic risk assessment and also relayed to a regional operations centre (ROC) for entry into the log.
Traffic officers use different models of 4×4 vehicles, with a mixed fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and diesel-powered with automatic transmissions. Vehicles used for patrolling as of 2021 include Land Rover Discoverys, Mitsubishi Shoguns, Mitsubishi Shogun Sports, Volvo XC90s (PHEV) and BMW X5s (PHEV).[4]
Traffic officers maintain contact with each other and the regional operational control centres by use of Sepura hand-held and vehicle TETRA radios using the Airwave network, and enabling officers to co-ordinate with other Airwave users. Each patrol vehicle is also fitted with a hands-free mobile phone.
Traffic officers attend incidents ranging from breakdowns and road debris to road traffic collisions (RTCs) taking the lead command role, except where there is an incident involving loss of life, life-changing injuries or potential criminal activity.
Traffic officers principally derive powers from the Traffic Management Act 2004 and have jurisdiction over the strategic road network of England, under authorisation given by the secretary of state.
Traffic officers must comply with the directions of a police constable,[5] and to exercise their powers must be on duty and in uniform.
For the purposes of:
A traffic officer may:
It is an offence to assault, resist or wilfully obstruct a traffic officer in the execution of their duty. It is also an offence to impersonate a traffic officer, or for a traffic officer to claim to have more powers than they do. National Highways traffic officers do not have any powers of arrest, or to search, issue fixed penalties or report for summons for any motoring offence. Breaching a rolling road block is an offence which is likely to be prosecuted. The number of prosecutions has increased as traffic officer vehicles are now fitted with CCTV, allowing enhanced records to be made of incident management and for evidential purposes when required.
Drivers are obliged by the Traffic Management Act 2004 to comply with directions to pull over and stop given by traffic officers;[6]
Traffic officers regularly respond to routine and serious incidents on the Strategic Road Network, often needing to reach the scene urgently. Drivers are obligated to allow a traffic officer vehicle to progress through traffic when responding to an incident.[7]
Since 2008, traffic officers have had the powers to directly arrange recovery of abandoned, broken-down or damaged vehicles. Previously this had been arranged through local police forces. The use of recovery powers is in accordance with strict guidance and instructions.
National Highways has its own national recovery contract used by traffic officers when removing vehicles on a statutory basis. Since October 2013, this service has been delivered by FMG support,[8] who are appointed as the National Vehicle Recovery manager. FMG Support work via a national network of recovery operators, who are instructed to recover individual vehicles.
The powers to allow traffic officers to remove vehicles are detailed in the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Traffic Officers) (England) Regulations 2008.[9]
Vehicles that are in a dangerous location or causing an obstruction can be removed at any time under Section 99 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984; in other cases motorists have two hours to make arrangements for recovery. Where they cannot make suitable arrangements in this time, under Section 99 a "statutory removal", subject to strict controls, can be invoked.
Seven regional operational control centres, formerly known as regional control centres, are dispersed around England and serve as the control rooms for everyday operations.
Control centres answer the orange emergency roadside telephones on the motorway and trunk road network, liaise with breakdown organisations, allocate traffic officers to incidents, monitor the CCTV system, control the electronic variable-message signs[10] on the roads and supply information to the NTCC. Some RCCs are co-located with the police.