VEHICLE ISSUES O7.2.73 Vehicles which are dealing with incidents on a regular basis shall be fitted with high-conspicuity retroreflective livery and lighting as appropriate to the nature of the vehicle. Guidance on appropriate livery and lighting can be obtained from the Highway Authority.
O7.2.74 Consideration should be given to the fitting of light arrow devices and/or impact protection devices to vehicles regularly involved in incident management. The light arrow should be used whenever the vehicle is providing protection and there are blocked lanes.
O7.2.75 The light arrow sign shall not display any form of arrow when on a two-way single carriageway road and, other than at the scene of an incident, the light arrow sign shall not display any form of arrow when on a hard shoulder of a dual carriageway. At the scene of an incident, the light arrow sign may be used on the hard shoulder if the nearside lane is blocked, in order to provide additional warning to approaching drivers until such time as it is possible to place ETM in position in the live lane. The light arrow sign may continue to be used until the ETM closure is complete at which time it should move into the live lane.
O7.2.76 When a vehicle is required to stop on the carriageway to deal with an incident, consideration should be given to the appropriate orientation of parking within the ETM; see Figure 7.3 below.
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Figure 7.3 Positioning of vehicles
O7.2.77 The fend off position is generally considered the most advantageous vehicle orientation and should be used unless factors identified by a dynamic risk assessment indicate that it is inappropriate. These factors may include:
- there are narrow hard shoulders where using fend off will result in part of the vehicle obstructing a live carriageway lane – consider using “in line” instead; and
- there is significant road curvature to the left (e.g. on an intersection slip road) where using fend off will reduce the side visibility of the vehicle to approaching drivers – consider using "fend in"
instead.
O7.2.78 The detailed advantages and disadvantages of the three vehicle orientation options are shown below.
VEHICLE PARKED IN "FEND OFF" POSITION
Advantages:
- fills the lane and therefore provides a line of defence;
- provides a forewarning that the vehicle is stationary;
- visually the vehicle gets larger as approaching vehicles draw nearer;
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