An investigation carried out by ITV News has found road workers are routinely experiencing abuse from members of the public.
This includes being shouted at, sworn at and having objects thrown at them, as well as being physically attacked and threatened with weapons.
ITV surveyed more than 250 road workers and traffic officers and found a third had experienced violence. One road worker we spoke to, who has asked not to be identified, described an incident when a driver got out of his vehicle and approached her patrol car.
"He managed to get the doors open and he come in with his fist raised," she remembers.
"I lent over towards my colleague to get out of the way and my feet went out the door, and he decided to then slam the door which cut my ankle and fractured a bone in my ankle joint."
Nearly all the road workers and traffic officers we surveyed have experienced verbal abuse and well over half have been threatened with violence.
Marc Woodall, a Contract Director running projects at Balfour Beatty, told us about a recent incident: "Only in the last week in East Sussex we had an incident where we had a road closure in place, a member of the public was a bit frustrated by that and wanted to get through," he said.
"Obviously, as is right, our member of staff refused that individual entry and, when that happened, that member of the public actually pulled a knife and physically and verbally threatened that member of staff."
The survey found more than a quarter of road workers were subjected to abuse most days, while another quarter face it at least once a week.
Road signs discouraging abusive behaviour are now often used at sites where there are roadworks. Some sites are also using CCTV and traffic officers at National Highways now wear body cameras, but they are still experiencing regular abuse from members of the public.
We joined two traffic officers out on patrol who explained it is a daily occurrence.
"If you spoke to most traffic officers, most of them experience some kind of abuse every day," said Antony Phipps who has been in the role for a number of years.
His colleague Sian Plant agrees and says she feels it has become part of the job: "Unfortunately I think it has. You just kind of accept it which isn't ok. I understand that drivers are frustrated but, at the end of the day, I'm just doing my job, and so is everyone else."
Nearly a quarter of those we surveyed told us that the abuse they experience has made them consider leaving their job.
A national summit was held in Manchester on Tuesday to raise awareness of the issue, as part of Respect our Workforce week.
It was organised by Kevin Robinson who runs Stamp it Out. This national campaign was set up to tackle the abuse of road workers.
He explained why he feels it is more important than ever: "Obviously there is massive investment in the road network at the moment," he said.
"We are going to see more and more roadworks .... my ask to society, my ask to anyone that's using the roads at the moment, is to be kind. If this was your mother or your father, you'd be absolutely appalled."
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