HA signs on the motorway

[esselte]

At the moment the gantry signs seem to be displaying the time needed to get to significant junctions...is this real time made up of actual speed etc or just a general "well it's 10 miles away so it's 8 minutes" sort of thing?If it's the former then how do they know unless they are noting reg. numbers? (trafficmaster jobbie?)

[Flat in Fifth]

esselte said:

At the moment the gantry signs seem to be displaying the time needed to get to significant junctions...is this real time made up of actual speed etc or just a general "well it's 10 miles away so it's 8 minutes" sort of thing?If it's the former then how do they know unless they are noting reg. numbers? (trafficmaster jobbie?)

I don't have the specific answer to your question, but what the signs should say is

"Time to Mx jn y is z minutes... BUT IT WOULD BE A LOT LESS IF YOU LOT IN THE MIDDLE LANE WOULD DRIVE IN THAT EMPTY LANE TO YOUR LEFT!"

and finish off with a dot matrix coffee beans smiley just for dramatic effect.

Any HA bods reading this tis a semi-serious suggestion btw.

[EU_Foreigner]

same as they do abroad - based on average traffic speed between the two points

[esselte]

EU_Foreigner said:

same as they do abroad - based on average traffic speed between the two points

SO they use cams to read reg nos?

[Vaux]

esselte said:

EU_Foreigner said:

same as they do abroad - based on average traffic speed between the two points

SO they use cams to read reg nos?

Oh yes. Be afraid........

http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/15756.aspx

Although the VRM is not stored etc. like Trafficmaster.

[Vaux]

Flat in Fifth said:

I don't have the specific answer to your question, but what the signs should say is

"Time to Mx jn y is z minutes... BUT IT WOULD BE A LOT LESS IF YOU LOT IN THE MIDDLE LANE WOULD DRIVE IN THAT EMPTY LANE TO YOUR LEFT!"

and finish off with a dot matrix coffee beans smiley just for dramatic effect.

Any HA bods reading this tis a semi-serious suggestion btw.

Just email you suggestion here:

[e-mail]

[over_the_hill]

Vaux said:

esselte said:

EU_Foreigner said:

same as they do abroad - based on average traffic speed between the two points

SO they use cams to read reg nos?

Oh yes. Be afraid........

http://www.highways.gov.uk/traffic/15756.aspx

Although the VRM is not stored etc. like Trafficmaster.

Trafficmaster and the like take a random sample of vehicles, not all vehicles. Also, the end point data does not always match up fully with the start point data, but enough readings are matched to tell if traffic is flowing or not and how quickly. This is not to say that the system can't and won't be modified at some later date to sample all vehicles. It also used to be the case that the Trafficmaster cameras only read the middle digits of the number plate (may still be so) which was another reason why a 100% start-end match wasn't possible.

[SpeedIsProgress]

So, is the time limit capped? Or on an empty motorway at 3am, and there were a few people exceeding the speed limit and no lorries, could get the sign's to read something along the lines of
Junction 3 - 10 miles
- 7 mins
Or would they just dispatch a police car to start patrolling further up the road?

[Vaux]

SpeedIsProgress said:

So, is the time limit capped? Or on an empty motorway at 3am, and there were a few people exceeding the speed limit and no lorries, could get the sign's to read something along the lines of
Junction 3 - 10 miles
- 7 mins
Or would they just dispatch a police car to start patrolling further up the road?

Nope - the software thingy won't allow a time that implies a speed of greater than 70.

Same as when you look at the HA traffic map:

http://www.trafficmap.co.uk/

The little speedometers never show more than 70!

[davidra]

does the measured average speed used to compute journey times ever exceed the speed limit, I wonder?

Incidentally I think the info re journey times is great, because a short time says "no problems on the road"

dave

[ridds]

I always see how much I can beat their times by.