UK motorways and A-roads to become more accessible for drivers with disabilities
Highways England is looking to make the motorways and A-roads across the UK more accessible to drivers with disabilities by assessing service areas along all of these major roads. The initiative looks to review each service area’s accessibility with regards to parking, sanitary facilities, petrol stations, shops and restaurants.
The assessments of these service areas looks to make planning and executing a trip across the UK more convenient and stress free for those who require additional facilities that are often difficult to ascertain or require a large amount of research in order to find. The assessment and cataloguing of the service areas will allow for a consolidated database of the accessibility provisions of each area on the main roads across the UK making the planning of a trip and the associated stops much easier for those who can find it difficult travelling outside of familiar areas.
The aim is to assess all of these service areas and produce guides with 360-degree images that can be used to view and evaluate stops in advance of a journey, allowing them to map routes to facilities and have an accurate description of the services provided. The project is part of a collaboration between Highways England and the AccessAble app which already gives accessibility information on venues across the UK and Ireland. The partnership works two fold by allowing people who use the app to get all the information they need for planning a trip as well as giving Motorway Service Operations feedback on how facilities may be improved in the future.
This initiative will be a great improvement for drivers with disabilities across the UK and allow for trips to be planned much easier than before. This project would be a welcome addition in Ireland to make travelling on motorways more accessible for drivers and passengers with disabilities. Many of the service stations along Irish motorways are more recent additions which already provide a high level of accessibility and facilities which have been incorporated in line with best practices and TGD M 2010.
The guides will be available on the AccessAble app and website in the coming months starting in early 2021. For further information on the initiative you can visit the Motoring Research article at this link – or visit the AccessAble website where you will be able to find further information on accessible venues and download the AccessAble app - Home | AccessAble.
If you need further information on how to make facilities or services more accessible and inclusive, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on (01) 415 12 85 or e-mail [email protected]
