National traffic alerts on the radio - what's the point?
Aug 23, 2018, 12:51 pm
#1
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National traffic alerts on the radio - what's the point?
In this modern age where most people use technology to plan and monitor their travel routes, what is the point of regular traffic alerts on the radio? It seems to me that the chances of a report being of any practical use to anyone is extremely low.
Aug 23, 2018, 12:57 pm
#4
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Aug 23, 2018, 12:58 pm
#5
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The stations where I live only have localized reports, so I'm not familiar with ones that cover a broader area.
Aug 23, 2018, 1:06 pm
#6
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Radio in the US is a totally local enterprise, so contemporaneous traffic reports are actually useful. In nations with national radio service, I agree that traffic reports are a useless vestige of the past. They can't really cover all the traffic issues in the country, and while knowing about a 6 km tailback entering Leeds may be interesting, it's useless ( and maybe just irritating) if I'm stuck in a construction jam near Coventry that's never been mentioned.
Aug 23, 2018, 2:26 pm
#8
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Aug 23, 2018, 8:27 pm
#9
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About as useful as having aerial coverage from a blimp of an event inside a domed stadium.
Aug 23, 2018, 10:54 pm
#10
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I think having traffic reports on the radio are extremely useful. Waze and Google Maps and such are not always as up to date, and I don't get traffic alerts with Google unless I'm navigating - something I don't need to do for the commute I've made 10 years and counting! Just because the national reports that you mention are not helping you doesn't mean they aren't helping thousands of folks every day. Can't you just tune to a different station when the traffic report comes on, or use your "modern age technology" to stream something?
Aug 24, 2018, 6:03 pm
#11
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If I'm in the D/FW Metroplex going south on 360 headed for I-20 west, the fact that northbound 75 at Parker Rd has two lanes closed is useless to me. But I can't make them stick to reports only on 360 and I-20. It's one radio station, and the Metroplex is quite large, so the majority of the incidents reported are not on my path or even nearby. Sure the UK is a whole country but it's not that big, nothing like the lower 48.
Aug 24, 2018, 7:41 pm
#12
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Back in the day, New Orleans radio station WWL could be heard throughout the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. at night (it probably still can, but I haven't checked in a while). They catered to long-haul truckers and they would give traffic reports and weather information for the entire country.
Radio used to be a lot more fun than it is now.
Radio used to be a lot more fun than it is now.