Safety warning as motorist stops to adjust wing mirror on the M6 in Greater Manchester

CCTV cameras working on the M6 motorway upgrade have caught the moment a motorist pulled over and got out of his car to check the wing mirrors.

The incident happened in the M6 junction 21a to junction 26 motorway construction zone. It was captured by the project’s roadworks team which uses CCTV to monitor traffic around the clock while upgrades to the network are completed.

Free recovery is in place to quickly move broken down vehicles or others involved in road traffic collisions away from the motorway, but Dave Cooke, National Highways’ project manager, says drivers could be doing a lot more to help themselves.

“The driver we spotted stopping to adjust his door mirror in lane three of our roadworks is an extreme example of someone needlessly putting themselves at risk but all drivers should exercise extra awareness and caution driving through motorway roadworks."

Mr Cooke said that while the free recovery teams were quick to respond to incidents,  avoidable issues such as tyre failures and running out of fuel caused delays and disruption to other motorway users.

The advice also comes after a major update of the Highway Code was published, with the latest online version including updated guidance on driving while tired, unroadworthy vehicles, safe towing, tailgating and driving in roadworks.  

Roadworks for the M6 smart motorway upgrade which runs between Warrington and Wigan were extended to cover the whole ten miles in October. They have recently been adjusted north of junction 23 at Haydock after work was completed on a new concrete central reservation barrier along this section of the motorway.  

The roll-out of new all lane running smart motorways was paused by the government in January to allow five years’ worth of safety and economic data to be collected. Work on stretches already under construction – such as the M6 – is continuing because these stretches are all more than half completed and leaving traffic management in place throughout the five-year pause would significantly disrupt drivers.