The facts:

• The Government passed the Traffic Management Act in 2004 to provide better conditions for all road users through proactive management by the Highways Agency (HA) of the national and local road network. [HA only looks after England's motorways/trunk roads]
• The Government acknowledges it cannot build its way out of the problem of congestion and new measures to manage the traffic on our roads are being introduced
• Traffic can be controlled through various means including: speed limits, road humps, planned or temporary traffic lights, congestion charges and the use of designated lanes to give priority to particular vehicles such as bus and cycle lanes in urban areas
• Particular focus has been given to increasing capacity on our roads by investment in additional infrastructure, locking-in its benefits and innovations in the use of the existing road network - for example, through measures including carpool and high-occupancy vehicle lanes, variable mandatory speed limits, ramp-metering to control access to motorways and the re-allocation of hard shoulders to running lanes
• An Active Traffic Management scheme is being introduced in phases on the M42, junction 3A-7. The final stage to be introduced is hard shoulder running by March 2007 (Source: Highways Agency)

RAC position:

• RAC welcomes the proposals to improve the existing road network to ensure more reliable and safer journeys for all road users
• RAC welcomes the contribution of the HA Traffic Officers in helping to manage incidents and keep traffic moving. However, some traffic management measures including ramp metering and carpooling lanes could hinder speedy responses by breakdown assistance companies and compromise drivers' safety
• Swift RAC response times will minimise traffic congestion caused by accidents and vehicle breakdowns, helping traffic to run more smoothly
• RAC is strongly opposed to the hard shoulder being used as a running lane
• RAC is not opposed in principle to designated lanes, such as carpooling lanes, but does feel that every proposal should be individually considered on its merits
• Government policy should not hinder RAC's responses to incidents and RAC is lobbying for access to all lanes for accredited breakdown and recovery operators when attending motorists

For further information contact:

RAC Press Office
Liz Kennett

Telephone: 01603 688263
Email: liz.kennett@aviva.co.uk

Updated May 2006

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