Highways Agency and police test accident clear-up system

The Highways Agency is working with police to test a GPS-based system aimed at speeding up evidence gathering at accident sites and getting traffic back on the move faster.

The agency is working with Warwickshire and Surrey police forces on a pilot scheme to link ground survey equipment used at crash sites with GPS handheld devices containing high-resolution aerial photos of large parts of the UK road system from Ordnance Survey.

Traffic accidents are responsible for a quarter of congestion on roads in England. The system is intended to reduce the amount of time police spend gathering evidence at crash sites, so that lanes and roads can be opened sooner and congestion minimised, says Denise Plumpton, director of information at the Highways Agency.

‘We are aiming to reduce congestion across the network, so when you do have incidents, police will be able to get there, assess the situation, and then get debris cleared off the carriageway as soon as possible,’ she said.

‘By looking at the extent of an incident using this technology, we can make a quicker assessment and then work to re-open the road as quickly as possible.’

It is normal practice for police to make a detailed record of evidence when an accident occurs, which is time-consuming and holds up traffic.

The GPS technology will determine the exact position of the accident and then link to pictures of the accident taken using police survey cameras.

The trial in Warwickshire and Surrey will be conducted over the next three months.

‘We will be collecting the evidence about what improvement is actually made, but we certainly expect there to be substantial time saved,’ said Plumpton.

‘The information from the trial will then be looked at by the Highways Agency, which will use it to put together a business case looking at the costs of a full national rollout, and what could be gained from that. If it looks like the savings are big enough, we will go ahead,’ she said.