Are matrix signs deliberately useless?

[fatjon]

a couple of weeks ago a matrix on M1 South at Sheffield was telling me about delays on eurotunnel. FFS it's 250 miles away and anyone who has not been living under a rock for the previous month already knows all about it. I drove another 15 miles straight into the back of a fking great traffic jam which I could have avoided with some useful info. And I don't need to know it was a bit misty 8 hours ago, I already know that I should not drive pissed and if I need a rest I will take one.

[DJFish]

Great one the other day coming out of a Scottish town on a typically dark & rainy day.

The sign was massive, surrounded by trees & as close to the road as it could possibly be.

As my eyes were straining through the tunnel of dark trees ahead to scan for dangers, the sign helpfully woke up and seared my retinas with this helpful message: "get your eyes tested"

Thanks, I will as soon as my sight returns!

[anonymous-user]

Sargeant Orange said:

"Slow bird in road" What the actual fk?

An ostrich might be of concern but I haven't seen many of those around Swindon to be honest. Not that there was a bird for the next 10 miles, which I assume had long flown away.

You haven't lived
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6377050/Run...
http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/local/walla...
You need to move up north

[Centurion07]

saaby93 said:

Too many people saying what doesn't work ( me included)
What would work?

Nothing?

Seriously, I can't ever remember reading anything on one of those signs and actually being able to make use of it. I would suspect that is the case for quite a large number of motorists.

As for this:

Gafferjim said:

Back to messages, We don't have free text on the message signs, but have to pick from a selection of authorised and preloaded messages. To get new messages authorised takes for ever due to the cost involved, each new message has to be loaded onto every sign so that it can take it, the price that gets charged for this is horrendous. NTICC have free text because they have a different system that sets the signs, but anything not already authorised has to go before a meeting of suites first, then they decide if it can be used, free text messages are only used on a very small number of signs at a time.

I find that to be utterly shocking. I could understand if it was 1995 or something but seriously?! If anything screams "not fit for purpose", it's that^.

[PAULJ5555]

Centurion07 said:

saaby93 said:

Too many people saying what doesn't work ( me included)
What would work?

Nothing?

Seriously, I can't ever remember reading anything on one of those signs and actually being able to make use of it. I would suspect that is the case for quite a large number of motorists.

As for this:

Gafferjim said:

Back to messages, We don't have free text on the message signs, but have to pick from a selection of authorised and preloaded messages. To get new messages authorised takes for ever due to the cost involved, each new message has to be loaded onto every sign so that it can take it, the price that gets charged for this is horrendous. NTICC have free text because they have a different system that sets the signs, but anything not already authorised has to go before a meeting of suites first, then they decide if it can be used, free text messages are only used on a very small number of signs at a time.

I find that to be utterly shocking. I could understand if it was 1995 or something but seriously?! If anything screams "not fit for purpose", it's that^.

Who the hell signed off the procurement of such a cr@p system. They should be sacked for wasting public money.

[marksx]

Boosted LS1 said:

And 'you may not see us working' or something similar. For 18 miles at 50 mph, not a fking soul in sight. It was the week end, they'd gone home!!! fkwits and they're fkwit signs.

I have a childish urge to sneak onto the motorway and add to these signs. You may not see us working. 'We never do!'.

Or my dad works here 'Tell him to crack on then!'

But that's just my 4 year old brain.

[dcb]

Centurion07 said:

Seriously, I can't ever remember reading anything on one of those signs and actually being able to make use of it. I would suspect that is the case for quite a large number of motorists.

+1

I also can't remember the last time one of the signs said anything useful.

I also don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of road numbers, so 90% +
of road numbers mentioned on the signs are unknown to me.

I find the primary use of the signs as passenger entertainment. I award
ten points to any passenger that spots a sign that references something within
50 miles of the current car location. 100 points gets a passenger a free
beer. Still waiting to pay out on that.

Warnings about the M20 while on the M1, warnings about the M11
when we are on the M3, M40 when on the M23, mentions of roads I've never heard
of, the whole system is IMHO a text book example of a useless system.

Millions of pounds wasted. Really bloody irritated I have to pay for it.

[FiF]

chopper602 said:

FiF said:

It's all just like the twaddle that the usual suspects come out with, "we know it's crap but it's Serco's fault. " though in this case amazingly it's not Serco who are the contractors afaik.

FYI : Serco aren't involved in these transport projects anymore (they sold us!)

Yes as I said it's not Serco but some other contractor. You edited that bit out. However last time this discussion was held the blame was firmly laid at Serco's door. It's the pattern of not me guv.

[Chevykevv]

Gafferjim said:

In our region at the moment it's "look out for bikes" due to the high number of motorcycles running back & forth to the ferry ports to go across to the various motorcycle races in the Isle of Mann & Ireland.

In Kent do you have "look out for Imigrants"?

[Gafferjim]

Sargeant Orange said:

"Slow bird in road" What the actual fk?

An ostrich might be of concern but I haven't seen many of those around Swindon to be honest. Not that there was a bird for the next 10 miles, which I assume had long flown away.

What the hell are you on? Stupid child!

No such message!

[PAULJ5555]

fatjon said:

a couple of weeks ago a matrix on M1 South at Sheffield was telling me about delays on eurotunnel. FFS it's 250 miles away and anyone who has not been living under a rock for the previous month already knows all about it. I drove another 15 miles straight into the back of a fuing great traffic jam which I could have avoided with some useful info. And I don't need to know it was a bit misty 8 hours ago, I already know that I should not drive pissed and if I need a rest I will take one.

Could have been tail backs from the Euro tunnel

[Ste1987]

On M1 southbound today, between J38 and 36, I saw a sign saying SLOW INCIDENT. Right after that sign, saw a car flipped over on the banking of the hard shoulder. I can't help but think some signs are linked and show the same message, because I saw pretty much the same message all the way to J36 and no other incident to be seen. What's that about?

[saaby93]

Ste1987 said:

On M1 southbound today, between J38 and 36, I saw a sign saying SLOW INCIDENT. Right after that sign, saw a car flipped over on the banking of the hard shoulder. I can't help but think some signs are linked and show the same message, because I saw pretty much the same message all the way to J36 and no other incident to be seen. What's that about?

What we've been told before is that the control room gets vague messages. Even if they are specific they might treat them as vague just in case
So they switch on a sequence of signs because they know somewhere within that range is an incident. They may not even be sure what the incident is.
It means many people treat the signs as being mainly irrelevant - as youve just seen.

Whats the answer - more cameras?

[DavidJG]

Last Friday night, M6 from junction 10 to 10A.

All going well until the overheads went to '40' and 'queue caution' messages. As these signs have Gatso cameras behind them, everyone has to slow to 40.

At J10A, back to NSL. No queue, no incident, nothing. Just a mandatory 40 for no reason at all.

I've also driven along the M42 / M40 past loads of matrix signs saying 'Fog slow down' on a completely clear night with no fog present or even forecast. I get that the control centre doesn't always get accurate info, but sometimes the info is just so far wrong it's laughable - or would be if it didn't have such an impact on journey times when linked to mandatory, camera-enforced speed limits.

[saaby93]

DavidJG said:

I've also driven along the M42 / M40 past loads of matrix signs saying 'Fog slow down' on a completely clear night with no fog present or even forecast. I get that the control centre doesn't always get accurate info, but sometimes the info is just so far wrong it's laughable - or would be if it didn't have such an impact on journey times when linked to mandatory, camera-enforced speed limits.

If someone phones in with there's fog on the road, with no info if they do nothing and there's a pile up who's to blame? If its a hoax is it better to do something? If they get it wrong so many times everyone ignores the fog signs and there's a pile up who's to blame?

[All that jazz]

saaby93 said:

DavidJG said:

I've also driven along the M42 / M40 past loads of matrix signs saying 'Fog slow down' on a completely clear night with no fog present or even forecast. I get that the control centre doesn't always get accurate info, but sometimes the info is just so far wrong it's laughable - or would be if it didn't have such an impact on journey times when linked to mandatory, camera-enforced speed limits.

If someone phones in with there's fog on the road, with no info if they do nothing and there's a pile up who's to blame? If its a hoax is it better to do something? If they get it wrong so many times everyone ignores the fog signs and there's a pile up who's to blame?

There really is no end to your utter stupidity is there?

[saaby93]

All that jazz said:

There really is no end to your utter stupidity is there?

Jazzy are you looking in a mirror when saying these things?
All I posted is what I think can happen
What do you think happens?

[Fastdruid]

Gafferjim said:

On a 3 line VMS they can put the town as well as the road number (NTICC do this, we can't)
But on a 2 line VMS you use the road number because there's probably more than one junction that can be used for that town.

They actually did a survey a couple of years ago on just what messages like this the public wanted to see, nothing has changed so I assume the majority are happy with what's set.

Or rather more likely the survey was carefully selected to produce the results wanted.

eg
On a scale of 1 to 9 please tell us if you agree informational messages about roadworks would be useful.
On a scale of 1 to 9 please tell us if you agree informational messages about road closures would be useful.
On a scale of 1 to 9 please tell us if you agree informational messages about major incidents / road closures on other parts of the network would be useful.

Rather than:
On a scale of 1 to 9 tell us how much you agree with the statement "information on roadworks/closures would be useful if they weren't referring to the location by the name of some obscure junction 200 miles away that you aren't going near and don't know where it is because you haven't memorised every fking road name in the UK"
On a scale of 1 to 9 tell us how much you agree with the statement "I DON'T KNOW EVERY fkING MINOR ROAD JUNCTION IN THE UK! STOP REFERRING TO INCIDENTS BY THEM AND USE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL!"

[Acehood]

I fully agree that these signs are useless. The M1 southbound from about J16-J13 has 'Queue ahead - 60' or 'Queue ahead - 40' randomly displayed on these signs.

The only reason there's a queue is because people slow down when they see those signs, further adding to the ridiculous congestion on the road. Makes what should be a 20 minute journey into a 45 minute traffic jam.

Then there's the "Check your fuel level" signs. If you need a sign to remind you, you shouldn't be driving

[All that jazz]

saaby93 said:

All that jazz said:

There really is no end to your utter stupidity is there?

Jazzy are you looking in a mirror when saying these things?
All I posted is what I think can happen
What do you think happens?

Umm, the vast majority of people are born with a pair of eyes that enable them to see things, such as fog, for example. The fact you think HA should be responsible for not displaying a warning of "FOG" on the matrix boards when someone has a crash in said fog is about the most retarded thing I've seen written by you yet (and there are plenty of other instances that take some beating).