Thank-You to TRISS on Ten Year Anniversary

The distinctive vehicles were introduced in 2005 and they now cover 240 miles of trunk road with eleven services.

Transport Minister Derek Mackay has marked anniversary by meeting some of the teams patrolling key routes around Scotland and thanked them for their efforts.

Crews have come to the rescue of thousands of stranded motorists, removed countless hazards from the roads and helped improve traffic flows by delivering up to date reliable traffic information for drivers.

Transport Minister, Derek Mackay said:

“TRISS is something that we are very proud of and it has been great to hear about the real assistance that it has given to people over the years.

“The crews deal with thousands of incidents every year and these range from helping Police deal with serious accidents to helping people who have broken down on the roads.

“Since its inception ten years ago, the service has evolved and we now have eleven vehicles patrolling the Central Belt and The Highlands. They use the latest technology and they have roof mounted CCTV cameras which allow live images to be shared with Police and Traffic Scotland.

“One of Transport Scotland’s main objectives is to improve journey time reliability and TRISS plays a key role in this by helping cut down on delays. This helps our roads run better and supports our economy.”

One of the many people helped by TRISS is Lynn Murdoch. She was traveling on the M8 near Glasgow Airport last year when her car broke down at a section where there was no hard shoulder. Fortunately TRISS was stationed near-by and the team managed to tow her to safety.

She said:

“The problem with my car left me sitting in the inside lane of the M8 with my hazards on and I was so scared I was going to be hit by very fast moving traffic.

“The speedy response of the incident support team made sure I was taken out of the way as quickly as possible.

“I would go as far as to say that they saved my life and potentially that of the other motorists who could have been caught up in the incident.”

Scotland TranServ’s TRISS Supervisor, Tommy Docherty said:

“I first began working on the initial concept of TRISS 10 years ago and recruited the first eight operatives who joined the service which would patrol south west Scotland’s motorways and trunk roads.

“A real highlight for me has been seeing the esteem in which the service is held by our partners such as Police Scotland.

“I have taken great pride in seeing the service evolve into a professional and efficient incident response resource which has such a positive impact on not only journey time reliability but also touching the lives of those travelling on our roads each day.”