Traffic officer hits the road for TV doc
AMACCLESFIELD traffic officer stars in a new Channel 5 documentary.
Jason Williamson, 48, appears in the new series which shows the work involved in keeping the roads moving during the winter months.
A film crew from Winter Road Rescue spent several shifts with Highways England traffic officers this winter, following the incidents they respond to on some of the England’s busiest stretches of motorway.
From his base at Newton-le-Willows Jason’s patch includes both the M62 and M6 where he is called to deal with a wide range of incidents – from minor breakdowns to major collisions.
Winter Road Rescue started on February 13.
Jason, a married fatherof-three, was with the Royal Air Force Police before signing up as a traffic officer seven years ago.
He said: “I was pleased that we were asked to get involved with Winter Road Rescue as we were able to show some of the work we do to keep the roads moving.
“Drivers often only see us when we’ve finished dealing with an incident and the road’s reopened. They don’t see us helping drivers, moving badlydamaged vehicles or clearing up spillages that would otherwise cause hours of delays, so I hope some of that comes across in the programme.”
The new series of Winter Road Rescue will also feature Highways England’s North West regional control centre in Newtonle-Willows, where incidents are monitored on CCTV cameras and responded to 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The series comes as Highways England launches a new campaign to urge drivers to adapt their driving to the changing conditions on the road.
The latest annual figures revealed that travelling too fast for the conditions is a factor in one in nine of all road deaths in Great Britain.
A safety campaign is warning drivers that ‘when it rains, it kills’ after the figures also showed that people are 30 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on the roads in rain than in snow.
It takes at least twice as long to stop on a wet road as on a dry road because tyres have less grip on the surface.
In wet weather you should: slow down if the rain and spray is making it difficult to see and be seen; keep well back from the vehicle in front to increase your ability to see and plan ahead; ease off the accelerator and slow down gradually.