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PRO INSTALLER DECEMBER 2014
PRO MOTORING
@proinstaller1
Free road safety
workshops for your fleet
The Fuel Card Group is
offering free road safety workshops and driver
analysis from Applied
Driver Techniques (ADT),
sponsored by its MileageCount fleet management service. Any business using five or more
vehicles may apply, with
places being offered on
a strict ‘first come, first
served’ basis.
Smart motorway
upgrade set
to start 2016
The Highways Agency has unveiled plans to
improve a thirty two mile stretch of the M4
motorway, between Junction 3 and Junction
12, by making it a smart motorway.
The major scheme, forecasted to
cost between £614 million and
£862 million, will be the UK’s largest smart motorway upgrade.
Replacing 16 bridges, the Highways
Agency is undertaking public consultation, due to finish on 21st December
2014, in order to apply for development
consent to the Planning Inspectorate in
early 2015.
The work, which is expected to take
over five years to complete, is dependent
on receiving development consent from
the Transport Secretary. The consultation
documents can be found at www.gov.uk/
government/consultations/m4-junction3-to-12-smart-motorway along with a
questionnaire to gather feedback.
The smart motorway proposal on the M4
will use the latest technology to improve
journeys by monitoring traffic flow and
setting speed limits accordingly to keep
traffic moving smoothly, instead of continually stopping and starting.
Steve Clarke, Group
Marketing Manager, said:
“MileageCount is sponsoring
these leading-edge services
to enable smaller businesses
to benefit from the same expert help as the UK’s largest
fleets. Demand is bound to
exceed the limited number
of places, so it is essential to
apply immediately, by calling
us on 0844 870 9741.”
Dr. Jim Golby is Director
of Research & Customer Experience, UK & Europe, for
ADT, he said: “Road Safety
Week, 17-23 November, was
a good reminder that anyone
using a vehicle for business
purposes has a duty of care
to the public. Just one accident can be hugely expensive in business disruption
alone, before all the financial cost are evaluated. Our
free workshops and driver
analysis will help to reduce
exposure to potentially damaging risks.”
The workshops will be
held at The Fuel Card
Group’s Wantage facility,
provided by ADT experts.
ADT helps fleets ranging
from just a few vehicles to
several thousands and works
extensively with Brake, the
charity behind Road Safety
Week. The driver analysis,
also created by ADT, uses
psychometric testing to
identify individual risks and
appropriate remedies. It has
been proven by major fleets
to deliver significant risk
reduction.
The proposal also involves converting
the hard shoulder permanently to a traffic
lane to create the extra capacity necessary
to support economic growth. Information
about road conditions and speed limits will
be displayed to drivers on electronic road
signs.
‘construction until after 2021’
Formerly known as ‘Managed Motorways’,
‘Smart Motorways’ are motorways in the UK
that use active traffic management (ATM)
techniques to increase traffic capacity. This
is achieved by employing variable speed
limits and hard shoulder running at busy
periods.
This 32 mile stretch of the M4 will therefore be under construction until after 2021.
For further information visit
www.highways.gov.uk
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