Q41 Mr Curry: I accept all that.
Mr Robertson: To come to the specific point that it does not help you too much to know that it is the A428, I would like to deal with this and be able to give every one of the 18 million motorists, plus whoever is travelling from abroad, the information that would help them. But there are quite a number of people who are familiar with the A428, to take that example. There are also quite a number of people who are familiar with the Peterborough turnoff, but unless I give them both pieces of information I cannot get to everybody.
Q42 Mr Curry: But you have a series of cameras and so you could give different information from each camera, could you not? The first one can say there is severe delay after the A428; the next one can say there is severe delay after the Peterborough turnoff. You can say there are severe delays 20 or 50 miles ahead which would give an indication of how far ahead the problem was. You could then provide a suggested alternative or a diversion, for example that I should turn left at the next exit.
Mr Robertson: We would do that had we identified that there was a strategic diversion that we wanted you to take rather than the fact that you would experience some delay and might therefore want to leave the route.
Q43 Mr Curry: When I see that am I supposed to pull over to the hard shoulder and pick up my atlas to find out where the road is. Do I open the atlas on the front seat as I am driving in order to spot whether or not I ought to come off the A1?
Mr Robertson: You have to decide whether or not you have the time to sit out a delay or come off and take an alternative route.
Q44 Mr Curry: That is why it is so helpful to know where it is.
Mr Robertson: That is why I start off by saying that the person who is making most of the decisions about travel on a strategic road is not me but you.
Q45 Mr Curry: Who decides what is put on the screen?
Mr Robertson: Most of the information that goes on the screen is predetermined in order that our operatives can put it up as soon as they know there is a problem, which will normally be a crash of some kind.
Q46 Mr Curry: If there is an accident and the road is closed, fair enough; if it is a crash so many miles ahead you know you have to do something about it. The other suspicion one has is that all of this has happened quite a long time ago and the cameras are very late in bringing one up to date, so one tends to take the risk of staying on the route thinking that the signs are probably a couple of hours out of date and it has been cleared up ages ago.
Mr Robertson: That is something to which I am very sensitive because it certainly was an issue when I came to the agency. I decided that it would be a long haul to try to pull people to another place, but you will notice that there are now cameras on the network that tell you the time to the next junction when it is running clear. We are getting good feedback from customers as to the accuracy of those and therefore users are beginning to accept that the information on the screens is something they can trust and rely on.
Q47 Mr Curry: That is interesting information and it is the equivalent to the French sign which says that traffic is fluid, meaning it is moving freely, but when you see a sign saying "Grantham turnoff 56 miles: 60 minutes", the sort of reaction is, "Well, I can beat that with a bit of luck".
Mr Robertson: I will have a word with the local constabulary!
Q48 Mr Curry: I shall be coming to that as well in a minute. One then has irritating signs saying, "Why not take a break?" or something, which is rather like being on the tube when it is crowded and somebody on the platform saying, "Move right into the body of the car". You just want to strangle the individual at that point. Is it not possible to put up more than a single piece of information? Can you not express that information in two or three different ways so it is helpful to the motorist?
Mr Robertson: In short the answer is yes, particularly if there are a number of signs in sequence so that we do not overload the information we are trying to put out.
Q49 Mr Curry: You mentioned speed cameras. Average speed cameras on overhead gantries are making their appearance. Are they a preliminary for road pricing?
Mr Robertson: No.
Q50 Mr Curry: What has been the effectiveness of average speed cameras as opposed to normal speed cameras in respect of which everybody hits the brakes as they approach them and then accelerates as they move away from them?
Mr Robertson: We are now using average speed cameras quite extensively in road works.