A majority of road workers have reported being subjected to physical and verbal abuse by motorists, according to a survey.

Respondents described having bottles of urine, eggs and even a dirty nappy thrown at them.

And more than 80% of trunk road workers across Scotland said they had their lives put at risk by motorists’ dangerous driving or had experienced some form of abuse.

Tom Wallace, of AMEY in the South East and Forth Bridges, said: “No-one should have to put up with this sort of behaviour in their place of work.

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“It’s time we called out those motorists who drive recklessly, unsafely and ultimately put lives at risk just to save a few minutes.

“Roadworks are our employees’ workplace – you wouldn’t dream about driving your vehicle through an office or a factory, so why do we suffer so many instances of vehicles entering roadworks?

“Respect our workforce – kill your speed, not a road worker.”

Trunk road operating companies BEAR Scotland, Scotland TranServ and AMEY are launching a safety campaign in conjunction with Transport Scotland to speak up for workers in Scotland.

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It is to highlight unsafe, reckless and anti-social behaviour of some road users which is “putting workers’ lives at risk”, as well as the abuse that the teams experience from passing motorists.

A total of 83% of those surveyed spoke of road users ignoring red lights while more than 70% reported seeing private vehicles entering the works safe-zone area in the past year.

Nearly three-quarters of employees said they have received verbal abuse from passing motorists in the past year while a third experienced missiles being thrown towards them in that time.

Andy Thompson, BEAR Scotland’s representative for the north-east, of Scotland said: “We rely on our employees to keep our motorways and other trunk roads safe every day.

“There is no place for verbal or physical abuse, jumping red lights or speeding through roadworks past workers undertaking essential tasks.”