GPS technology on our motorways
| Published: 7th March 2008 11:38 |
Highways Agency (East Midlands)
(Highways Agency) £2.5m invested in getting roads moving -GPS technology to be used to clear up after incidents in East Midlands
New state-of-the art GPS technology is today being rolled out across the East Midlands by the Highways Agency to help get traffic moving more quickly after serious traffic collisions.
The congestion-busting kit allows the police to make a 'virtual map' of the collision scene, enabling the road to be re-opened more quickly following a serious incident.
The equipment will now be used by police forces in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.
Recently Essex Police used the kit to survey an incident scene on the M11 in just 10 minutes while Highways Agency Traffic Officers used a rolling road block to temporarily stop traffic. Previously a full road closure would have been enforced - meaning a closure of around two hours.
Announcing the roll-out, Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly said:
"This is an excellent example of the Highways Agency and the police working together to benefit motorists. The police have important work to do after a serious accident - this new kit will make that work quicker and easier and get people moving again much sooner.
"The Government is determined to find every opportunity to tackle congestion."
The Highways Agency has invested £2.5million in buying the equipment and is rolling it out to ensure that all the police forces in England who patrol the Agency's network of motorways and major A roads - some 4,500 miles - can benefit from it.
Stephen Green, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police and Head of Roads Policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said:
"This is a splendid example of partnership working between English police forces and the Highways Agency who both have a vested interest in reducing the adverse effects of serious collisions on motorists. The equipment will help us to collect evidence from the scene more quickly without having any detrimental impact on its quality. This augurs well for our partnership working on the English strategic road network."
The GPS technology was provided to 11 police forces in April 2007 and is now being rolled out to a further 25 Police Forces (two forces had already bought the equipment themselves). Between now and the end of March 2008 the Highways Agency will be ensuring that training is provided, where needed, to those police forces that have received the new equipment.
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