The Motorway: Life in the Fast Lane

For the last six years, there has been a succession of roadworks on this stretch of the motorway resulting in a string of complaints from Jim who has the Highways Agency number permanently 'logged in his phone'. With the latest roadworks again scheduled during the night when the motorway is at its quietest, Jim knows what to expect - 'you start seeing orange lights flashing and at 3 and 4 in the morning it's disco time'. For Alan, the noise of the roadworks outside his home is 'like a war game' and he ponders whether his next move is to call the 24-hour hotline or email his local MP.

In January 2003, on a day known as White Friday, an enormous snowstorm brought the M11 motorway to a standstill and left drivers stranded in their cars for 18 hours. In the media storm that followed, the Highways Agency (HA) was heavily criticised for failing to prepare for snow and ice. Since that day, the HA have invested in a dedicated team of national traffic officers and motorway maintenance workers ready to react to weather events and deal with incidents.

Highways Agency staff scour 450 CCTV cameras for problems on the M6, while Steve Taylor travels along the motorway at a steady 50mph on the lookout for potentially dangerous potholes. The programme also follows the work of the Central Motorway Police Group, accompanying PCs Mark Crozier and Karl Davies as they respond to an incident in which someone has died after jumping from a bridge onto the carriageway in the early hours of a Saturday morning

Every year in Britain there are an estimated 250,000 road traffic collisions. It is a widely held theory amongst those working on the motorway that there is no such thing as an accident - usually something or someone is to blame. This episode takes a look at the work of the Highways Agency, motorway police and other agencies who are making Britain's motorways safer and also explores the environmental, economic and emotional costs of accidents that occur on Britain's motorways.