Workers on roads lift lid on abuse from drivers

A majority of road workers have reported being subjected to physical and verbal abuse by motorists, according to a survey.

Respondents described having bottles of urine, eggs and even a dirty nappy thrown at them.

More than 80 per cent of trunk road workers across Scotland said they had their lives put at risk by motorists’ dangerous driving or had experienced some form of abuse.

Tom Wallace, of AMEY in the South East and Forth Bridges, said: “Noone should have to put up with this sort of behaviour in their place of work.

“It’s time we called out those motorists who drive recklessly, unsafely and ultimately put lives at risk just to save a few minutes.”

Trunk road operating companies BEAR Scotland, Scotland Transerv and AMEY are launching a safety campaign in conjunction with Transport Scotland to speak up for workers in Scotland.

It is to highlight unsafe, reckless and anti-social behaviour of some road users which is “putting workers’ lives at risk”, as well as the abuse that the teams experience from passing motorists. A total of 83 per cent of those surveyed spoke of road users ignoring red lights while more than 70 per cent reported seeing vehicles entering the works safezone area in the past year.