Following up on my piece about the impact of the major works at Junction 10 of the M25 on road users, I’d like to return to a story I covered elsewhere in January about National Highways’ efforts to persuade drivers disrupted by roadworks that work is being done, even when it probably isn’t.
The company’s Guidance for using Electronic Boards for Roadworks (EBRW), with the subtitle “Guidance for using ‘customer friendly’ messages through roadworks” is explicit about the need to use information boards for public relations purposes.
In fact, it frames National Highways’ “primary objective” in a way that you may find surprising:
For the rest of RIS2, and moving into RIS3, it is imperative we focus on our primary objective of maintaining and improving our reputation with customers.
Not safety, not decarbonisation, not even improving customers’ journeys, but making them feel like they have had a good journey is the company’s primary objective.
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Transport Insights 