Q61 Dr Pugh: I want to know the benefits, generally speaking, either to the motorist or the government. Having done it, how is the world better for me and Mr Curry?
Mr Robertson: What we are providing is greater reliability of journey and improved safety. We have a target to reduce safety incidents to 2001 levels by 2010.
Q62 Dr Pugh: You have done that?
Mr Robertson: We are well on track to do that.
Q63 Dr Pugh: You are telling me there is a reduction in accidents. Telling me there are obstacles ahead means that I slow down and therefore I do not run into the back of another vehicle?
Mr Robertson: The motorway incident detection and automatic signalling system (MIDAS) that detects a queue and tells you by sign that you are about to run into congestion cannot be done fast enough by radio. There may well be other things you can do by radio, but that is a major contribution to safety.
Q64 Dr Pugh: In terms of people altering their journeys, one sees signs saying "Junction 14 long delays", for example. It appears to me that most motorists press on regardless on the assumption it will change by the time they get to that point, or they do not have many options. Do you detect a change of behaviour on the part of the average motorway motorist that we can all talk about and point to as a success?
Mr Robertson: We have motorists who are educated to use planning tools and motorists who are not so educated. The tools themselves are there now, but there is not sufficient use made of them which is why the principal aspect of our information strategy is not to roll out further tools but to get more people to use what is already there, whether it is to check the website, CCTV images, radio services or the signs.
Q65 Dr Pugh: Is it fair to say that you are slightly disappointed by the extent to which the average motorist has made use of this marvellous box of tools you have given him?
Mr Robertson: I am not disappointed by it. It is not surprising given I understand the character of the motorist who wishes to press on in exactly the same way that you do, but I think there is a big prize to get people to think about the journey they are about to take particularly if it is a long one.
Q66 Dr Pugh: You have encouraged reflection on this?
Mr Robertson: If we can do that it will also help to provide an even more robust market for the private sector which at the end of the day has a bigger role to play in the dissemination of information for motorists. The core of the Highways Agency's offer has to be that it provides good quality, reliable data.
Q67 Dr Pugh: To go back to the overruns in cost, in your earlier answers you appeared to be stressing two matters. One was the collapse of the telecommunications market which you suggested had a detrimental effect on cost overrun.
Mr Robertson: The telecommunications market meant that there was no opportunity to look for third-party revenue for other things and other users.
Q68 Dr Pugh: You did not mean that you would have got it cheaper? When a market collapses one normally assumes that products become cheaper and people are anxious to shift them. If they cannot shift them elsewhere prices fall, do they not?
Mr Bradbrook: You are alluding to the fact that technology prices in general become cheaper with the passage of time. That is one of the matters that we have taken into account in the contract. We have a bi-annual technology review and any reductions in the cost of the technology are shared.
Q69 Dr Pugh: What have those savings amounted to so far?
Mr Bradbrook: I believe that in real terms at the end of the first two years the savings are 4%.
Q70 Dr Pugh: Have these been offset by, as it were, ambition within the project because you also mentioned new technology coming along, that is, various gadgets, tools and add-ons that had not previously been thought of.
Mr Robertson: Basically, we have the tools that we need, but we need more use of the tools and more penetration of the services, if you like. One of the reasons we went for a 10½-year contract, or 10-year plus a half-year switchover, was that this was a fast-moving market. As you mention, things like satnavs are improving in capability and coming down in cost very quickly. They are now available for people to use personally as well as in cars. I am pretty sure that the pace of change which the private sector is driving through competition will be of benefit to the road user in a way that the public sector and Highways Agency should enable with good data but in which it should not compete.