Stop/Slow Bat Technique: Positioning, Signals and Escape Routes

Good stop slow bat technique means standing outside the travel path where drivers can see you from well back, holding the bat in the hand nearest traffic, giving clear and unhurried signals, and always knowing your escape route. The skill is in the timing: stopping traffic with enough warning and never releasing until the other end is clear.

This guide is written from the station out, for controllers who already hold the right card and supervisors who brief them. It does not replace your accredited training, the approved traffic guidance scheme (TGS) or your state's manual. The detail below follows the Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management (AGTTM) Part 7, which covers traffic controllers. States add their own rules, so check the current version your project specifies. For when stop/slow is the right method in the first place, see our guide to stop/slow traffic control.

Before you pick up the bat: is manual control still the right call?

The bat puts a person close to live traffic, so many authorities now expect portable traffic control devices (PTCDs) such as portable traffic lights or boom barriers wherever they suit the site. Queensland's guidance, for example, says to use manual traffic control only where PTCDs are not enough. Western Australia has made PTCDs mandatory on many Main Roads roads, with limited exceptions such as set-up and pack-down. NSW projects set their own requirements through the TGS and the client's contract.

That matters for technique, because the bat is often used for short periods: holding traffic while a signal is set up, during an incident, or on low-volume roads where the risk assessment supports it. Short does not mean casual. The portable traffic lights guide covers when devices take over.

Setting up the station: position, sight lines and signs

Most bat technique problems are really station problems. Before releasing a single car, walk your position and check it against this list. AGTTM Part 7 sets out similar checks, and your TGS and briefing come first.

A few site details catch people out:

• The ute. A work vehicle parked between you and the taper, or across your escape path, defeats the whole set-up. Queensland's guidance says this directly. Park it where it neither hides you nor traps you.
• The sun. Low morning or evening sun behind you can make you nearly invisible, and shade under trees does the same at midday. AGTTM tells controllers to watch for the angle of the sun through the shift.
• The end of the queue. If queues grow past the PREPARE TO STOP sign, tell the supervisor so someone else can move the signs. The controller on the bat should not leave the station to do it. Our roadworks queue monitoring guide covers triggers and responses.

Holding the bat and giving clear signals

AGTTM Part 7 asks for a bat that puts the bottom of the sign at least 1.8 metres above the ground, so drivers can see it over bonnets and queues. Bats are usually mounted back to back on a timber or aluminium pole. At night, the bat must be retroreflective, and a red illuminated wand supplements it.

How you hold it matters as much as what it is:

• Bat in the hand closest to traffic. This frees your other hand for signals and leaves you able to move quickly in an emergency.
• Keep the face steady. A gentle rock to catch attention is fine, but the driver must be able to read it clearly.
• Watch which face is showing. Turning the bat carelessly while talking or walking can show SLOW to a driver you meant to hold. Treat the bat like a live signal at all times.
• Signal with confidence. AGTTM asks for positive hand signals, eye contact where possible and a professional appearance. Drivers obey a controller who looks certain.

The basic signals are a raised free hand with the palm towards traffic to stop, a clear beckoning wave to go, and an up-and-down movement of the free arm, kept below shoulder height, to slow traffic further. Your training covers the exact signals approved in your state, and you should use only those.

Stopping traffic: the SLOW to STOP sequence

Stopping a stream of moving vehicles is the highest-risk moment at the station. Under AGTTM, the controller showing SLOW is the one who decides when the flow changes, so this sequence is theirs.

1. Stand facing traffic, just outside the path of vehicles. Do not drift into the lane to make yourself more visible.
2. Wait for a safe gap. Give the next driver enough distance to stop without braking hard. Where you can, avoid making a heavy vehicle the first in the queue.
3. Call the last vehicle. Radio a short, standard message, for example that you are stopping your vehicles and the last one through is a white tray-back ute.
4. Turn the bat to STOP and raise your free hand, palm towards traffic.
5. Hold your position until traffic has actually stopped. Never step in front of a moving vehicle.
6. Adjust only once stopped. AGTTM allows controllers to reposition so arriving drivers can still see them, but whether and how far you move towards the stopped lane depends on your state's rules and your company procedure. Whatever you do, keep your escape path available.

Releasing traffic: the STOP to SLOW sequence

Releasing is where assumptions kill. Before you turn the bat, you need positive confirmation that the shuttle lane is clear.

1. Check the other controller is showing STOP to their traffic, by radio or sight.
2. Wait for the last vehicle from the other end to pass you. Match it against the description that was called.
3. Check the work area. No plant, trucks or workers in the lane or about to enter it. If a machine is reversing or a truck is waiting to pull out, hold.
4. Move back to the side of the road, clear of all traffic.
5. Stand side-on so you can watch both the released traffic and the work area.
6. Turn the bat to SLOW and give the go signal with your free hand.
7. Note the first and last vehicles you release, ready for the next call.

If radios fail, hold your traffic on STOP until contact is restored or the supervisor puts another method in place. The national training unit for the bat includes checking communications after a nominated period without contact, so agree that period at the briefing.

Escape routes and what to do when a driver won't stop

Every controller position needs an escape path identified at set-up, kept clear in front of, behind and along it, and briefed at the pre-start. AGTTM puts the escape path in the pre-start content, and Queensland's guidance requires one for every controller position.

A good escape route:

• leads away from traffic, to a closed section, wide shoulder, footpath, median or behind a barrier
• does not send you into an excavation, a machine's swing radius or a drop-off
• is short, with no trip hazards such as sandbags, sign bases or loose cables
• still works when the queue is long and drivers are frustrated

When a driver ignores the STOP sign, AGTTM's priorities are clear: protect yourself, use the escape route, and warn the crew as early as possible using a warning signal agreed beforehand, such as a shout or a whistle, plus the radio. Then record the vehicle type, colour, registration, direction and what happened. Disobeying a controller's direction is a near miss worth reporting, even when nobody is hurt. Our work zone intrusion guide covers the controls that reduce how often this happens.

Night, weather and long shifts

Technique degrades when conditions do:

• Darkness and rain. Use night-rated hi-vis, a retroreflective bat and a red wand, and make sure the station is lit without dazzling drivers. Check you are still visible once the ute's beacons are behind you, as vehicle lights can wash out a controller.
• Wind. Large bat faces catch the wind. Some states allow a smaller face where a risk assessment supports it. Never hold a bat you cannot keep steady.
• Relief. AGTTM says a controller standing continuously for more than two hours must be relieved for at least 15 minutes of rest or other duties, and other duties cannot be more traffic control. Build the relief into the crew size, not the goodwill of the works crew.
• Fatigue and heat. Slow reactions on the bat, missed radio calls and drifting from position are often the first signs. Rotate positions and relieve early rather than late.

Common bat technique mistakes to correct on site

Supervisors should watch for these during the inspections done at the start, during and end of every shift, and correct them on the spot.

Next steps

Rehearse the stop and release sequences at the pre-start on any new site, and brief each controller's escape route by name. To plan cycle times and queue lengths before the job, try the free stop/slow shuttle cycle planner. For current national guidance, check Austroads and your state authority, such as Transport for NSW or Transport and Main Roads Queensland.