NEW posters alerting motorists to the presence of road workers operating on the highway are being launched by Nottinghamshire County Council.

Already used widely in other areas of the country, the posters are being introduced in a bid to improve safety for highways teams working on Nottinghamshire’s roads.

The council is responsible for looking after more than 4,000km (2,600 miles) of roads, over 5,000km (3,400 miles) of footway, 90,000 street lights, 120,000 highway trees and 350 sets of traffic signals.

Since September 2010, the council’s highways workforce has encountered 14 reported incidents, which have ranged from traffic speeding through roadworks to one worker being hit by a vehicle when the driver of the car in question refused to follow a signed diversion route

On another occasion, one of the council’s roadworkers was struck by a car while gritting a side street.

The new posters feature a small boy wearing a hard hat and hi-visibility vest with the slogan: “Slow Down: Kill your speed, not my Dad”.

“Looking after Nottinghamshire’s roads can be a tough and dangerous job, but someone has got to do it – and it could be your dad, brother, uncle, cousin, or even sister working behind those cones,” said Coun Kevin Greaves, chairman of the transport and highways committee.

“Although we regularly talk about safety on our roads, the attention is normally focused on road users – drivers, cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians – and it’s all too easy to forget about those people who actually work on the highways.

“These posters redress the balance and help to remind motorists that there are real people working behind those cones — with families waiting for them at home.”

The posters will be produced in a variety of formats and be used on-site wherever the council’s highways teams are at work at the side of the road.