Hi Barry, I see the alzheimer’s has kicked in again, but we’ll not go there!
When this sort of thing happens, we are as frustrated as yourselves to get the road reopened as soon as possible, and assist the police as much as we can to try to get that done quicker.
Once a serious RTC is reported and all the emergency services are deployed, it can take 10 - 15 mins before the decision is made to close the c/way whilst everyone gets there and the injuries are assessed. Meanwhile the M6 will back up 1 mile per minute on a normal busy day.
To close the motorway, you then need a minimum of 2 patrols at the junction, one on the main c/way, and one on the entry slip (drivers WILL move cones and go through if left to their own devices) for this particular incident, they would initially need 2 patrols at J16, and 2 patrols at J17 (using HATO patrols, freeing police to deal with the incident Barry)
Once it becomes obvious that this will go on for some time, diversion routes are assessed, sometimes needing a patrol to drive it to make sure there are no local blockages (another HATO patrol Barry, leaving the police to concentrate on the incident) then the diversion signs are set,including opening the ones on the countdown markers prior to the closed junction (these are either on the 300, or 200 yds markers, you’ll see under normal conditions one of these is twice the width of the others, when opened it will say "TO REJOIN M6, FOLLOW Δ " or similar,
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Then along the diversion route this symbol will be at every junction.(there are various symbols in use.)
They are either like this, or with the symbol attached to the large route sign prior to a junction.
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The problem at M6, J17 northbound, there is a low bridge along the diversion route, and you higher guys will not get under it, this would obviously cause even more havoc, that’s why the diversion was put in at J16.
At the scene of the RTC, the injured casualties are obviously dealt with first, probably needing extraction by the fire brigade, meanwhile once extra HATO patrols have got to the scene, the traffic that’s been trapped between the incident and the closed junction will start to be either turned around from the rear, or the central reserve barrier cut through to let traffic go onto the other c/way, both operations requiring at lease 2 patrols or more if the other c/way is going to be used, done by the HATO’s Barry, freeing up the limited police to deal with all the procedures they need to do at the incident.
When the initial assessment was made that it was a life changing or fatal incident, the motorway police would request attendance of the collision investigation team. Now they don’t keep these bobbies on coat-hooks at the cop shop, they’ll be doing normal police activates, and will need to be recalled back to the police station (possibly requiring someone to take over what-ever they were doing) to get their gear, then they need to get there through the traffic that is now horrendous. this normally takes 1 - 1½ hours (On nights, these officers may even have to come in from home, taking even longer)
Nothing apart from the injured parties is moved at the scene until they have finished their investigation. Once the police have finished their investigations, the vehicles need to be removed, in the case similar to this, by the police duty garage, any other vehicles that may have hit a person (or part of) will also be taken by the police. Then a specialised clean up firm is brought in to clean up any “bodily fluids etc” once all this is done the police will eave and the incident is handed back to the HA, who will reopen the c/way as soon as any debris, unsafe infrastructure etc is sorted out, or any lane closures for damaged road surface are fully set up etc…
Even opening the c/way is not as straight forward as just moving a few cones, the main c/ways are usually opened first before the slip roads, requiring HATO patrols from each closure to open it at the correct time, (the police have gone to do policing now Barry, not dealing with queues of impatient motorists)
Then HATO patrols must then run through the area where all the traffic has been queueing for some time, as we normally get a lot of overheated vehicles, sometimes abandoned ones as nosey drivers have walked miles up the c/way to try to get a look at what’s happened. (again saving on police doing it Barry!)
The usual time for dealing with straight forward fatal is 3½ hours or more, all depending on what’s involved & how it’s happened.
