Archive - Friday, 13 February 2004


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New accident response vehicles on the road

NEW 24-hour accident emergency response vehicles have been introduced to Wiltshire's roads to clean up crash sites.

Two new vehicles are up and running this month and a further two will be on the highways by the end of the year.

The accident response units have been introduced by Ringway Parkman, suppliers of highway maintenance for Wiltshire County Council, and will also deal with emergencies including flooding, storm damage or fallen trees.

David Gibby, project director, said: "We respond to incidents 24 hours a day often in rural areas in the hours of darkness where the risks are high. To improve the safety of our operatives and other road users the new vehicles have been carefully designed to be highly visible.

"Being fully equipped we are able to rapidly mobilise these units significantly reducing our response times."

Emergency staff manning the vehicles will also be putting up signage to warn drivers of accidents or obstructions and carry out repairs to the highways.

Mr Gibby said: "We typically respond to at least 30 incidents a month and we hope by making ourselves more visible in the community we will help raise the profile of general safety awareness among road users."