Quality not quantity was the message received from Edmond King of the RAC Foundation when talking to the assembled delegates at the IHT’s Driver Information conference held at the RIBA on 16th February. Edmond came to the conference to talk to professionals about the possibility of missing the important messages due to information overload whilst driving.

The conference opened with the keynote speaker from Denise Plumpton, Director of Information at the Highways Agency outlining the progress that had been made on delivering the HA’s Information Vision, which comprised of influencing customers through trusted, reliable, useful and effective communication; to make best use of their information asset to improve performance and to deliver efficient, effective information systems and support services.

She also talked about the provision of good information for the travelling public being a partnership with private sector companies who collect and distribute the information and local authorities where there is a need to ensure consistent information across the whole network. But the partnership does not stop there users have a role by planning their journeys in advance and responding to up-to-date information in journey. All working together Denise is confident customers will experience a more reliable journey.

Other presentations in the morning session were from Brian Goodwin, network manager of Essex who talked about the role Local Authorities were undertaking to contribute to that partnership, from Marshall Poulton from TfL who outlined the developments in London, Martail Chevreuil of ISIS offer a continental taste with a view of what was happening in Europe and we also heard from Nick Hilton-Ablewhite who talked about Traffic Wales.

The morning session concluded with a lively debate, but the clear message that came out of that discussion was summed up by the IHT’s President David Hutchinson who chaired the morning session when he said “It is clear to me that if there is a message from today it is that if the professionals do not fully understand what is going on in the world of driver information or where the best information can be found, how can we expect the public too, is the vision we need to achieve,  a one stop shop for simple information to the user”.

The afternoon session looking at wider aspects was chaired by Mike Bordiss of the IHT’s Network & Infrastructure Management Board. After the talk from Edmond King the focus was on data collection and systems availability with talks from Nick Somper, Chief Executive of Trafficlink which provides data for the BBC, Highways Agency and Transport Direct. The final presentation of the day came from Ian MacGregor who covered the role of Informatics, the use of technology to improve access to information, and his vision that the platform for sustainable mobility will be satellite based.

In summing up the day Mike Bordiss commented that much development and innovation and roll out of systems had been achieved in recent years but there was a clear need for co-ordination across the country to ensure consistency, quality and easy access to information. There was a clear need for an Information Champion and that role should be picked up by Central Government.