Another current thread recommends tuning to a radio station to get traffic updates.
I've always found these virtually useless as they appear to be rather out of date. Where do they get their info? (I'm convinced that the old Capital Flying Eye was nothing of the sort - it was a man in a studio with some aircraft background noises!)
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I commute from Cheshire to Liverpool each working day, taking in the glories of the M6 and M62.
I listen to Radio 4 and used to have the traffic announcements switched on. I have been stuck in some amazingly bad traffic jams over the years but NEVER found that the traffic announcements gave me sufficient warning to plan a different route. Typically, I would be stuck on the M62 and about 30 minutes into the jam, the TA would suddenly pipe up and make a brief mention. I found that the system interupted my listening with countless stories that were irrelevant and I was driving with my finger over the TA cancel button.
However, I have found the new large overhead matrix signs of some value and they have definitely helped warn me in sufficient time to take avoiding action. The only problem is that sometimes the warnings are left on for a while after the problem has been cleared up so they can occasionally cry wolf.
My sat nav uses a TeleAtlas disc. I have the option of paying over £100 for an disc upgrade that integrates Traffic Information into the route guidance calculations. However, given my experiences with TA, I think this is likely to be a waste of money.
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>>I've always found these virtually useless as they appear to be rather out of date. Where do they get their info?
LBC 97.3 is very accurate.info is live as well,great when travelling.Most other stations are inaccurate.But also presenters are great as well,brilliant discussion all round
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Steve
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>>I've always found these virtually useless as they appear to be rather out of date. Where do they get their info? LBC 97.3 is very accurate.info is live as well,great when travelling.Most other stations are inaccurate.But also presenters are great as well,brilliant discussion all round -- Steve
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I would agree with Steve, except that I normally use 1152 AM in the South East (within, more or less, the M25)
They are updated every 10 minutes and are LOCAL.
I find all the others pretty useless, as they tell you about a problem in The Isle of Skye when you are trying to get to 'ackney or Peckham.
Where do they get their info. - not really sure - a lot of it if phone ins from listeners.
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The best source of local info is from the people themselves.
The official feeds are obviously going to be slower, and in some cases, where diversions wouid bung up local roads, the police don't actually want you told at all.
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I can assure you that I used to see the Capital flying eye many times when stuck on the M25 when I used to travel to Heathrow .
I do not listen to Capital these days but always tune to Mercury which is my local station for the traffic reports - I can't stand the programmes...
They contact local taxi firms and garages at key points in the area and ask what them is going on but the best reports are from people on the road phoning in on their mobiles to report accidents and delays. I have varied my route to work a number of times as a result.
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>>but the best reports are from people on the road phoning in on their mobiles >>
A large number of the Radio2 traffic reports include such information, many being regular contributors.
However, for obvious reasons, it's impossible to feature every accident or holdup on national radio so tuning to the local station or having RDS enabled on is the best option (apart, of course, for those who enjoy the very latest technology!).
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I can assure you that I used to see the Capital flying eye many times when stuck on the M25 when I used to travel to Heathrow .
I don't believe that traffic reports coming from aircraft can be much more than a gimmick. The M25 is 125 miles around and it will take a helicopter or light aircraft about an hour to fly round it. What they can do is fly to a reported trouble spot and report on that.
LBC 1152 AM uses, I think, Trafficmaster, with motorists ringing in. No system is infallible, but I think 1152 AM is one of the best.
When I have used the Traffic Programme regional facility on the car radio, it's more nuisance than it's worth. It either gives me a lot of junk that I'm not interested in or the reception hiccups while it seems to thinking whether it should interrupt the programme and I miss the best bit of The News Quiz.
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It takes considerbly less than an hour to fly around the M25. Its not like they have to rigidly stick to its route.
I too have been under the flying eye as it reported the jam I was in.
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It takes considerbly less than an hour to fly around the M25. Its not like they have to rigidly stick to its route.
Most helicopters have a max. speed of around 125 - 150mph (although they will talk in knots). Light aircraft aren't much faster. If the don't stick to somewhere near the road, they won't see the (unreported) jam.
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I have found Time FM 106.8 (South London) to be excellent for Local trouble spots.
They use listeners calling in with reports.
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You can see the james onm the m25 from up to 3 miles away. Plus you dont have to fly all the way round to get from bit to the other do you! you fly from jam to jam.
I could fly all the m25 with good view of the traffic in 40 minutes.
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You can see the james onm the m25 from up to 3 miles away. Plus you dont have to fly all the way round to get from bit to the other do you! you fly from jam to jam. I could fly all the m25 with good view of the traffic in 40 minutes.
So if we say the the median radius of the M25 is 20 miles. The 3 miles off is 17. 17 miles times 2 pi d equals 107 miles.
nah. you wouldn't do that in a cooking helicopter in 40 minutes. If you are going to fly straight to a previously reported jam, then what's the point? Better to use a combination of traffic cameras, Trafficmaster sensors and blokes on the ground with mobile phones.
It is all for show, just as many of the jobs done by the air ambulance ar.
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"just as many of the jobs done by the air ambulance are" - not sure about that, but can we stick to the point in hand?
Start another thread for air ambulance discussion if you want...makes it easier for us mods to manage :-)
Thanks. smokie, BR Moderator
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Nowhere did I mention a helicopter.
Capital radio used a twin engined piper seneca. Top speed 218 knots. Lets assume then that it flies at 230 mph.
Now do your maths.
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Nowhere did I mention a helicopter.
A number of radio stations do use helicopters.
The worst case of waste of resources that it is possible to imagine, completely unnecessary, all the information that is required is available without even more aircraft flapping around (figure of speech) over our heads.
I firmly believe that it is all done for publicity.
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I agree with drbe's earlier point - my TA is set to local, but even then I seem to get endless reports for areas I am a long way from and which are to me completely irrelevant. Furthermore, the switching of these announcements seems very haphzard - it either cuts in after the announcement has started, or otherwise it's a couple of empty-headed presenters exchanging what they think is banter but what I think is rubbish. Consequently, I de-select TA most of the time as it is generally an irritating distraction. It could be a very useful service, but not the way it is currently set up. The general lack of decent info on even major routes is pitiful in this day and age. The matrix signs are little better, providing info that is so bland as to be next to useless on occasions.
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Re the TA function, is there ever a case where this has been used for non traffic matters ie. very important news stories?
For instance, the day of the London bombs, I was listening to my cd in car and never actually knew about it.
Thought there might be an agreement for it to be used to interrupt when events like the bomb, important deaths etc happen?
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No, there was only ever one system to take over ALL radio stations in the event of a nuclear war.
Cant remember what it was called, but it was connected by the old GPO
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I usually have the TA turned off, but having recently worked out that it is quicker to go 27 miles by motorway (45 minutes) than 13 miles by A road (60-100 minutes) since the schools go back, I turned them on again.
Travelling from Wigan to Bolton, M6/M62/M60/A666, all in Greater Manchester/Cheshire, I will usually get bulletins from Merseyside,Lancashire,Stoke, Leeds and Sheffield - bulletins from GMR are very much the exception, and this mornings 'traffic bulletin' from radio sheffield was a plug for a phone in show, during which they played an excerpt in which the caller was discussing moustaches and 'nasal juice' - luvverly !
However I set the radio, it doesn't make any difference, but I now think that the problem is the BBC don't have an atlas. I was looking at a link to the BBC's 'Action Network', and it seems to think that Wigan is in Cheshire, which will come as a surprise to a lot of people, and also that Flintshire is a town in 'England -> Cheshire'. Somebody must have picked the whole county up and carried it over the border from Wales when nobody was looking
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I had the radio on with TA set to distance and while on the M5 stuck in a jam involving 4 cars I had 4 traffic reports from bbc local radio stations including Bristol, Hereford and worcester, Wales, and in welsh. which is a great help if I wasn't already stuck.
on the way home I got informed on an accident on the A30 in cornwall near Bodmin eastwards where a car had hit the central barriers, only just happened so light traffic not even a police car although as I passed one was ariving on the scene.
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