By Andy McCue, 19 July 2006 12:25
NEWS
The Highways Agency (HA) is to try to help motorists plan their journeys better by using electronic motorway signs to display more detailed and up-to-the-minute travel information.
The trial will take place on parts of the UK's motorway network this summer and the signs will tell drivers how long a journey between different locations is likely to take in current conditions and how long any delays will last.
The HA is also developing trials of other potential new services to provide traffic information to motorists. Earlier this year the HA announced a 12-month trial that will allow drivers to download video footage from motorway CCTV cameras onto their mobile phones to help them avoid jams.
The move is part of a wider push to provide real-time traffic information through a variety of channels to help motorists plan their journeys both before they head out and while they are on the road - the HA claims more than three-quarters of drivers don't plan their journeys at all.
The HA has also just published a new guide detailing the different ways drivers can access traffic information to help plan and manage road journeys.
The Think Ahead, Move Ahead booklet outlines the various HA website, telephone and motorway information resources motorists can use to access real-time traffic information on England's 7,300km of motorways and trunk roads from the agency's National Traffic Control Centre.
Roads minister Stephen Ladyman said in a statement: "People can find out about traffic conditions before they set off, while they are travelling or even when they've stopped at a motorway service station for a cup of coffee. They can find out if there will be any delays and how to avoid them. If they can't change their route, they will have a more realistic idea of how long their journey will take."
In an interview with silicon.com last year Denise Plumpton, information director at the HA, said in-car technology is likely to be one of the main delivery channels of this kind of traffic information in the future.
Comments
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1. anonymous
This is just such rubbish! For many journeys, particularly long distance ones, there is rarely a beneficial alternative route.
The type of really annoying jams caused by accidents or other unpredictable events could only be avoided by mass adoption of "push" type technologies that could (a) assess the problem, (b) propose a useful alternative (see point above) and do this fast enough and to motorists over a wide enough area to swiftly stop the congestion building.
Sorry, but I do not see mass adoption of such a "push" technology happening even if a workable means of proposing an alternative route could be devised.
In as far as it happens today (traffic broadcasts on radio) my experience is that the information is too frequently out of date or plain wrong.
The simple fix is to learn patience.
Another case of over confidence in the potential merits of technology!
2. Nick Bird
The HA really doesn't need any new technology - it's existed for nearly a hundred years, and every car has one.
All it needs is a radio channel dedicated to reading out the information on what and where the hold ups are, and just repeat it and change it as it happens. When you want to know, you just change to the traffic channel and listen for a couple of minutes. No texting to to mobile phones, or trying to get relevant information in 2 lines of a motorway board. Just some announcers with, admittedly, a job that gets as tedious as hell. So, you pay them enough, like you do air traffic controllers.
The problem with the TA button on current radios is that like as not all you get is some naff local DJ chatting to his posse and trying to be Chris Evans.
A radio channel, that's all it needs.
3. anonymous
Wow! Only 5 years behind the rest of Europe.
4. Guy Harris
The posting of information on the moterway is no new idea - it has been done in France for the last 15 years - look at Paris giving travel time on the ring road or Toronto that provides information on the 401 highway west out of the city. No new technology is needed just a will to post useful information. Traffic Master is great and has saved me hours since I had one, but that requires investment for those that need it - posting on the big screens is ideal and low cost and benefits all.
Downloading to cell phones etc is just dangerous and sends the wrong message no point - another example of hype and irresponsibility wasting public money and likely to cause accidents the one thing we all want to avoid!
5. Jim Price
Absolutely right, the plain old car radio is an available, cost effective way of communicating with drivers. If the suggested dedicated channel used the TA facility everytime the information changed it would relieve the driver boredom and surely the announcer boredom issue only needs a bit of hard disk space and prperly indexed messages! Unlike what we have now, though, and BBC regions please note, we need announcers who know their local road systems and the difference between north and south! We could probably afford to give them a road atlas too.
6. Andrew
I am a regular business traveller on this countries roads so I hope its better than the exiting LED boards that always seem to provide out of date or useless information. All to often they slow traffic down, bunch it together and cause the jams. More info is fine if its up to date and useful; lets hope the new system is better than what we have now!
7. Steve Watkins
I will believe this when I see it. The main cause of motorway traffic jams is the incompetent design. Examples:
1) why have a roundabout at the junction of the A14 and A1?
2) why have a roundabout (with traffic lights) at the junction of the M25 and A41?
3) why have a roundabout (with traffic lights) at the junction of the M25 and A1(M)?
4) why have a roundabout at the junction of the M6 and A14?
5) why construct (or leave in place) a oundabout for the new A428/A1 junction at Black Cat? Within six weeks there will be regular jams of at least one mile morning and evening.
It is worth noting that this so-called new technology has been in use on the Paris Peripherique for at least 13 years.
Why has it taken so long for the Highways Agency to wake up? Why these incompetent jobsworths get paid so much for doing so little? Why should they get a fat index-linked pension at the age 60 for nugatory contributions?
Why do we put up with it?
8. Mr T
Waste of Taxpayers money!.
Reducing congestion can only be achieved by improving roads and reducing accidents. Without a doubt accidents on motorways cause havoc to traffic flow and seem to be coming more and more common.
The driving skills displayed on Britain’s Motorways are appalling and is it any wonder?
Most drivers have had no official tuition on how to drive on the motorway. They have been allowed to get out there and find out for themselves picking up bad habits along the way.
How about this for a wild idea. TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO DRIVE ON THE MOTORWAY. Radical eh.
There is absolutely no motorway training required to pass a driving test.
Simply buy teaching freshly qualified drivers how to enter a motorway, leave a motorway and how to change lanes and judge distances properly would help reduce accidents.
So forget silly signs, reduce accidents and improve the roads.
9. Fred Perkins
The HA has spent millions installing matrix signs on motorways over the last few years, but rarely have I seen one that conveyed any useful (or uptodate) information. With all the cameras and other detection equipment, there is NO excuse for lack of up to the minute information on these signs, yet so often they are blank when there's a major problem ahead, or they still carry info from the previous day.
As with all information-oriented systems, the system is only as good as the information management. When are we going to get value out of the cash already invested.
We seem incapable of orchestrating straightforward co-ordination of resources already in place. Even radio services seem incapable of being current - telling me about jams which were cleared hours ago, or telling me routes are clear while I'm sitting in a jam.
It's not TECHNOLOGY which is needed - it's PROCESS.
10. Phil Wood
So if I am driving north up the M6 Toll, and get a message that there is congestion ahead somewhere around J15-16, what am I expected to do? This happens regularly, and on one occasion, I found myself on the A500 crawling through Stoke like all the other people who had come off the motorway. It took 3 1/2 hours to get from Birmingham to Manchester. The information is only useful if there is an alternative - and you don't make all the other 100,000 drivers use the same one!
11. Perry Offer
so they'll be downloading video content to their phone whilst driving will they? or will they all be pulling over to view it and creating another jam?
12. anonymous
I've obviously driven through a trial of this system.
I was in slow traffic that seemed to be backing up and I was considering leaving the motorway and going cross country.
The sign informed me it was 34 minutes to get past the traffic. It actually took 33.30 mins. I was very impressed, it certainly was useful for me.