"Pedestrians in the road" on the motorway, does anyone care?
Discussion
This sign seems to be incresingly common recently, on motorway travels and as yet I have never seen a pedestrian in the road.
I'm always half expecting some drunk student who thinks its funny to play chicken with the traffic to impress his mates, but nothing. Not event a broken down car with a bloke at the emergency phone.
The gantry signs also give you a reduced speed, which some people do for seemingly a short distance.
On one of my recent travels this message was flashing on the boards for a whole 5 miles on one particular motorway and no a sign of anyone. Surely they can narrow it down a bit better than 5 miles?
When you see the sign, what do you do? Heightened awareness perhaps? But at what point do you disregard the message as being erroneous?
I'm always half expecting some drunk student who thinks its funny to play chicken with the traffic to impress his mates, but nothing. Not event a broken down car with a bloke at the emergency phone.
The gantry signs also give you a reduced speed, which some people do for seemingly a short distance.
On one of my recent travels this message was flashing on the boards for a whole 5 miles on one particular motorway and no a sign of anyone. Surely they can narrow it down a bit better than 5 miles?
When you see the sign, what do you do? Heightened awareness perhaps? But at what point do you disregard the message as being erroneous?
Gafferjim said:
Hi Mabbs,
During the day, midas usually sorts itself out very well, if a slow HGV has tripped it, then at the most it'll only be on for 4 mins, so that HGV will not have got too far in front and you can guarantee that there'll still be queues behind it trying to pass it, so queues are still present, midas doing it's job. as I've said, during the night it can be different, and if we see it we'll sort it, but I can't remember when we last had a rough midas setting.
This is just part of our area, you can see very small squares next to the road, these are VMS settings, they can be anything from the "Don't drink & drive" type campaign messages (These are set by the NTIC down near Birmingham, and are authorised at the start of the year, ie what will be show, where, and for how long. The regional RCC have nothing to do with these.
Also some are the automatic messages i.e. "12 miles to J##. 10 mins" type of messages. these are set but cameras very similar to ANPR ones, they record the last 3 letters of a group of numberplates, time how log most of these take to get to the next point, then put the average time up. (never with a quicker time than 70 mph average) these can be a nuisance, as there can be an RTC between 2 junctions blocking the road to some degree, and it could take some time before that message changes to show the delay. (I personally over-write them with info about the incident)
This snapshot was taken when there was very little traffic on the network, to see the same when it's rush hour, it's lit up like a Christmas tree!
Also you can only see up to just past J27 on the M6, our area goes right up to Gretna Green and the border at Scotland, you need to move the screen around to see that part.
Network with permanent speed restrictions will have a de-restriction sign (round white diagonal black line) roadworks with a speed restriction should also have the nation de-restriction sign, but at least and "END" sign.
Thats really informative, thanks for that. always find it interesting to learn how these things work.During the day, midas usually sorts itself out very well, if a slow HGV has tripped it, then at the most it'll only be on for 4 mins, so that HGV will not have got too far in front and you can guarantee that there'll still be queues behind it trying to pass it, so queues are still present, midas doing it's job. as I've said, during the night it can be different, and if we see it we'll sort it, but I can't remember when we last had a rough midas setting.
This is just part of our area, you can see very small squares next to the road, these are VMS settings, they can be anything from the "Don't drink & drive" type campaign messages (These are set by the NTIC down near Birmingham, and are authorised at the start of the year, ie what will be show, where, and for how long. The regional RCC have nothing to do with these.
Also some are the automatic messages i.e. "12 miles to J##. 10 mins" type of messages. these are set but cameras very similar to ANPR ones, they record the last 3 letters of a group of numberplates, time how log most of these take to get to the next point, then put the average time up. (never with a quicker time than 70 mph average) these can be a nuisance, as there can be an RTC between 2 junctions blocking the road to some degree, and it could take some time before that message changes to show the delay. (I personally over-write them with info about the incident)
This snapshot was taken when there was very little traffic on the network, to see the same when it's rush hour, it's lit up like a Christmas tree!
Also you can only see up to just past J27 on the M6, our area goes right up to Gretna Green and the border at Scotland, you need to move the screen around to see that part.
Network with permanent speed restrictions will have a de-restriction sign (round white diagonal black line) roadworks with a speed restriction should also have the nation de-restriction sign, but at least and "END" sign.
Personally, I think those information messages saying "J29 - 10 miles, 10 minutes" etc are brilliant, particularly in heavy traffic as you can better evaluate if to stay on the road or get off. It somehow makes the journey a bit more relaxing as you know the signs are more-or-less correct.
Gafferjim said:
Try this out guys. http://www.trafficengland.com/map.aspx
My inner-nerd loves that. Great link! Hi folks,
I emailed Jim last night about his offer to let us go and see the inner workings of the control room, and this is a genuine offer. Would anyone be interested in this?
As originator of the debate, happy to organise this... So...
1) Number of people required to make this happen is 10-12 people.
2) You need to be fairly flexible with dates as Jim will be doing this for us on his day off.
3) If you would like to come along, please EMAIL ME (click on my user name, then the "Email me" button) and I'll create the list based on order of receipt.
4) No children please, its an adults only party.
Location is near M6 J23, so thats just west of Manchester, north of Warrington (ish).
Suggest we get 12 people on the list plus up to 8 reserves incase people can't make the date once we've got one.
I'll keep a running list on here. Those who doubt the usefulness of the signs/HA etc might also want to come to see for themselves how it is run and whether or not you really could do any better?
I think this will be a facinating insight into something we, as motorists, take for granted every day.
Huge thanks to Jim for this offer and for doing it on his own time.
The list...
1) Paul O.
Any more...?
I emailed Jim last night about his offer to let us go and see the inner workings of the control room, and this is a genuine offer. Would anyone be interested in this?
As originator of the debate, happy to organise this... So...
1) Number of people required to make this happen is 10-12 people.
2) You need to be fairly flexible with dates as Jim will be doing this for us on his day off.
3) If you would like to come along, please EMAIL ME (click on my user name, then the "Email me" button) and I'll create the list based on order of receipt.
4) No children please, its an adults only party.
Location is near M6 J23, so thats just west of Manchester, north of Warrington (ish).
Suggest we get 12 people on the list plus up to 8 reserves incase people can't make the date once we've got one.
I'll keep a running list on here. Those who doubt the usefulness of the signs/HA etc might also want to come to see for themselves how it is run and whether or not you really could do any better?
I think this will be a facinating insight into something we, as motorists, take for granted every day.
Huge thanks to Jim for this offer and for doing it on his own time.
The list...
1) Paul O.
Any more...?
Edited by Paul O on Friday 6th September 10:20
Thanks to all those who have emailed me. I'll be in touch shortly re times/places/dates. If anyone else would like adding to the reserves list, let me know.
Cheers!
Paul.
1. Paul O
2. Mike.
3. Dan
4. Tom
5. Ian
6. Dave W
7. Dan
8. Paul [Aston]
9. Tony
10. Neil
11. Rick
12. Mark MJ
13. Mark M
14. Ian C
Cheers!
Paul.
1. Paul O
2. Mike.
3. Dan
4. Tom
5. Ian
6. Dave W
7. Dan
8. Paul [Aston]
9. Tony
10. Neil
11. Rick
12. Mark MJ
13. Mark M
14. Ian C
Hi all,
We've got an overview scheduled for the control room visit tomorrow evening to see how it all works. The event list is currently full, but there may be a few drop out. If anyone would like adding to the reserve list, please let me know.
Click my name, then "Email me" button and I'll add you to the list.
We've got an overview scheduled for the control room visit tomorrow evening to see how it all works. The event list is currently full, but there may be a few drop out. If anyone would like adding to the reserve list, please let me know.
Click my name, then "Email me" button and I'll add you to the list.
The Agency visit was fantastic, thanks very much Jim for letting us in for what I expect was a very exclusive opportunity.
I'll do a little write-up of the day later. I think it was a great opportunity for sceptics too as to what the Highways Agency do. The systems they use really are quite extraordinary....
I'll do a little write-up of the day later. I think it was a great opportunity for sceptics too as to what the Highways Agency do. The systems they use really are quite extraordinary....
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