Safety on the M42 active traffic management project.

In September 2006, the M42 Active Traffic Management pilot introduced controlled use of the hard shoulder to the UK motorway for the first time. Press articles at the time focussed heavily on the question of safety. In reality, this innovation was the culmination of a detailed five-year safety programme, the first of its kind carried out on a UK highways project. This paper describes the approach taken, including the innovative adoption ofGALE (Globally At Least Equivalent) as the safety target and its implications for hazard analysis, risk assessment and the development of the safety case. This is illustrated by the example of one particular hazard thatof a vehicle stopped on the hard shoulder when the hard shoulder opens and the measures that were taken in its risk assessment and mitigation. Also described is the web-enabled hazard log tool which was developed to manage the large amounts of information generated during the programme and totrack each issue to conclusion. After one year of operation an a six month analysis report, the project has been widely acknowledged as an outstanding success. Not only has performance of the road been enhanced, but early safety results have been very encouraging. The government has now announced plans to consider hard shoulder running on other parts of the motorwaynetwork. Further safety studies will be conducted and these will be able to draw heavily on the knowledge which has been accumulated during the pilot programme. Cambridge Consultants is a technology and innovation company, active in a wide range of industry sectors. In this project, it utilisedits experience of developing safety-critical systems in the rail, defenceand healthcare industries, along with deep technical knowledge of road transport systems, to devise appropriate risk assessment methodologies, carry out risk assessments and develop the hazard log tool. The work describedin this article was carried out in close collaboration with the Highways Agency, Mouchel Ltd and Arthur D Little. Additional ntributions were made by other members of the consortium including IPL, CCD and TRL. (Author/publisher).