RAC Report on Motoring 2016

RAC Report on Motoring 2016

3.0 The state of our roads

The introduction of the ‘all lane running’ smart motorway has increased the importance of motorists’ compliance with red X signs and variable speed limits in order to protect the safety of road users involved in incidents on live running lanes. The vast majority of motorists (90%) say they always comply with the red X signs indicating a lane closure on motorways, while slightly fewer (83%) say they always comply with speed restrictions that are, from time to time, imposed due to accidents, bad weather or volume of traffic. More than four in 10 drivers (41%) claim to have been delayed by 45 minutes or more as the result of a major incident in the past 12 months. But while the figures given above suggest that motorists

have high levels of confidence in information displayed on roadside variable message signs, radio traffic news remains the most common way for drivers to get information about delays. Almost four in 10 (38%) of those who have suffered a long delay in the past five years say they found out the reasons for the hold-up by listening to radio traffic reports (compared with 18% who found out from variable message signs), while a third (32%) say they discovered how long a delay was likely to last via the radio (24% from signs). A clear majority (72%) say they would expect to receive details of incidents and delays via the radio, compared with 47% from signs and 36% from live traffic information on their satnav.

“I am surprised by the high level of dependence on the radio to find out about traffic problems. Today’s motorists have the likes of variable message signs and live traffic information on their satnavs, but it appears radio is still king.”

DAVID BIZLEY Chief Engineer RAC

60