DfT announces plans for red flashing lamps for roadside recovery, NTDA ‘delighted’

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced plans to allow rear-facing red flashing lamps in order to make road-side recovery safer. As part of its ‘Plan for Drivers’ which was published today, the government department said it would be: “Permitting red flashing lights for breakdown vehicles, helping to protect recovery drivers by making them more visible at the roadside”, adding: “This measure will apply to England, Scotland, and Wales.”

The NTDA welcomed the move, explaining that the regulatory amendments that would permit red flashing lamps on breakdown vehicles are not expected to enter into force until 2025 but, as an interim measure, the DfT will facilitate operators, to use red flashing lamps sooner. Operators will need to apply for a Vehicle Special Order (VSO) under the authority conferred upon the Secretary of State for Transport by section 44 of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

The NTDA has campaigned for the use of red lamps on breakdown response vehicles for many years, both in its own right and alongside the Professional Recovery Operators Federation (PROF), which has led on the campaign.

NTDA CEO Stefan Hay said: “Vehicle Recovery Operators and Tyre Technicians, both Mobile and Commercial, are comrades working together to keep Britain moving in often appalling and usually very dangerous conditions and sadly, in both cases, the recovery and tyre industries have lost people at the side of the road.

PROF Chairman Richard Goddard, who spoke at the 2019 NTDA Tyre Industry Conference on this matter, and Derek Firminger of European Rescue and Recovery Initiative (ERRI) have been “phenomenal allies” and “inspirational leaders” in this campaign, according to Stefan Hay.

For those interested in the rationale, evidence and argumentation that led to the decision, the DfT will be publishing the reports from the two phases of its funded research “in due course”. As well as the outcomes on the use of red flashing lamps, the reports make recommendations which could help improve safety for recovery technicians and other road users.