Thursday 30th June 2005

New high-tech signs for M3 & M4

£15m scheme uses pictures to warn and advise

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Will they warn middle lane morons?

Work on a £15 million project to install 43 new high-tech overhead motorway message signs on the M3 and M4 motorways begins with a communications upgrade in July, said the Highways Agency (HA), which is responsible for the upkeep of Britain's main roads. The move follows the damning of the HA by MPs for being ineffectual -- see related story link below.

The new signs can display both text and pictures in two colours and are due to come in to use by the end of 2006 to give drivers the latest information about road conditions ahead.

Work on the M3 is due to start on Monday July 11 and on the M4 in mid-July. The scheme also includes CCTV cameras, so traffic managers can view incidents on the motorway, and new emergency telephones.

Most of the installation work will take place off the main carriageway, on the motorway verge with hard shoulder closures in place to provide a safe working area. Occasional carriageway lane closures will be needed to install the detector loops, but these will take place overnight when traffic flows are lower.

Research has shown that drivers understand picture-based messages up to a second quicker than text-based messages. The minister for roads, Dr Stephen Ladyman, said: "Using pictures as well as words on the new signs will help drivers to understand and react to the information displayed more quickly."

The HA said the new signs were part of its investment in new technology, designed to provide better information to drivers, cut congestion and help drivers to avoid delays.

The new signs will be linked up to a new regional traffic control centre where the police and HA traffic managers will work together to reduce the impact of congestion and accidents on the South East network.

CCTV will allow them to assess the situation, manage incidents on the motorway, and set the new message signs more accurately. The HA said that the cameras could not distinguish number plates and could not be used to catch traffic law offenders.

The new signs will be linked to an incident detection system, which uses loops in the road to identify slow or queuing traffic and automatically activates the signals to warn approaching vehicles of an incident on the road ahead.

• Related story on PH

[RFT]

fifteen quid? that is cheap.

[Fat Audi 80]

The ones installed on the M4 look lovely but I don't think I have ever seen them display information that is accurate. A complete waste of time IMO. They could at least display a "KEEP LEFT YOU NUMPTY" message when not in use....

[ubergreg]

Cool! More street furniture. I love street furniture.

And if I see a pretty graphic warning of a jam up ahead, then what? Turn around and go home? Will it also suggest a useful detour?

Surely this money could be better spent fixing roads?

[dnewton]

A much better idea is to have display signs on roads that lead up to potential queuing areas (ie at a roundabout junction). These would then tell people that there are delays ahead and give them the chance to find an alternate route before sitting for x hours in a queue with no way of turning around - just like at junction 3 of the M3

[IPAddis]

Scrolling signs?

Ideal:
"Oy you!"
"Yes you in the Vectra!"
"Get out of the middle lane..."
"...put down your mobile phone..."
"...and turn off your fog lights..."
"... you dickhead!"

More Likely:
"You are now stationary in a 3 hour traffic jam"
"You really should have taken public transport"
"Public transport is better for the environment"
"Sponsored by FirstBus"
"PS. Speed Kills!"

[ubergreg]

IPAddis said:

Scrolling signs? Ideal: "Oy you!" "Yes you in the Vectra!" "Get out of the middle lane..." "...put down your mobile phone..." "...and turn off your fog lights..." "... you dickhead!" More Likely: "You are now stationary in a 3 hour traffic jam" "You really should have taken public transport" "Public transport is better for the environment" "Sponsored by FirstBus" "PS. Speed Kills!"

[steveherb]

That explains the signs around junction 9 and 10 of the M3, 'Work starts 11/7/05 for 57 weeks'! 57 weeks for crissake, what kind of signs are they installing? Would be much better adding a crawler lane so the bloody HGV's dont crawl up the hill at minus 2mph in the two inside lanes.

[jvaughan]

I would settle for no signs and a decent road surface.
Hampshires roads are really crap.
filtering on a motorbike, you actually feel the inch deep cracks between lanes of the M3, and the tarmac breaking up around Basingstoke and Andover.
Winchester may aswell be dirt tracks !

[lockup]

Two colours? What's them then - orange and black?

[timtonal]

steveherb said:

That explains the signs around junction 9 and 10 of the M3, 'Work starts 11/7/05 for 57 weeks'! 57 weeks for crissake, what kind of signs are they installing? Would be much better adding a crawler lane so the bloody HGV's dont crawl up the hill at minus 2mph in the two inside lanes.

Yeah but think of the money making opportunities - they could put a mandatory 40 limit and Specs cameras on for all that time. Just like the M6 near Sandbach - the ones that protect the invisible workforce.