Transport User Voice September 2024 – Tackling ‘wrong way driving’

04 September 2024

Improving road signage  

Every few months, there is story about a driver getting onto the wrong side of a dual carriageway. Sometimes, there is a lucky escape, but all too often it results in a catastrophic head-on collision.   

It is an area where Transport Focus feels National Highways could and should do more – rather than acting only when a coroner makes a recommendation, for example, to improve signage at a particular junction.   

In March 2024, a driver was killed and another seriously injured in a head-on collision on the M62 near Saddleworth in Greater Manchester. The deceased driver had left Hartshead Moor services travelling in the wrong direction, heading back the way he had come, into oncoming traffic. 

While we may never know the exact circumstances behind this, Transport Focus highlighted a number of improvements to signage that we felt would reduce the likelihood of a road user inadvertently leaving the services in the wrong direction.   

One thing we pointed out was a large, double-sided Starbucks sign with, on one side, an arrow pointing completely in the wrong direction, pointing back towards the entry slip road into the services. 

We are pleased to report that, having heard our concerns, National Highways recently confirmed that Welcome Break has painted out that thoroughly misleading side of the sign, addressing that risk. National Highways has carried out preliminary design work for other improvements, assessed as having a good benefit to cost ratio, but the work is not yet funded. We will continue to follow this up to make sure this safety improvements are secured for road users.

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