Traffic broadcast

The traffic radio (also traffic service ) is an integral part of the program of many radio stations . The traffic radio informs drivers at regular intervals about the current traffic situation or, if necessary, with traffic information such as traffic jam or wrong-way driver information .

Emergence

Germany

Regional traffic radio was created in Germany in the early 1970s. The pioneer was the Bavarian Broadcasting Corporation with the Bayern 3 program, which began as a service wave on April 1, 1971 . The Germany radio led in 1974 to the "traffic beeper" (officially: Hinz trill ) the ARI -Kennung in Germany. In the 21st century, traffic radio has generally lost its importance due to the widespread availability of mobile navigation systems and apps . Deutschlandfunk stopped its traffic broadcast on February 1, 2020.

Austria

In Austria , the Ö3 traffic editorial office is responsible, which has been broadcasting Austria-wide traffic radio since the late 1970s. The predecessor was the car driver program Drivers on the move , which only broadcast traffic news during the program. Since 2005, Ö3 has also had its own studio at the ASFINAG headquarters , so that the news can be brought even more quickly.

shape

Most broadcasters usually send a full overview of all traffic disruptions around five minutes after the full and half hour. In the event of ghost driver reports and accidents, which must be warned about as promptly as possible, the current program is interrupted or a music track is discussed. With some radio stations that broadcast their programs in a larger area, the reports are only transmitted in the relevant area.

Structure of traffic radio

The traffic radio outputs the dangerous spots and traffic jams in the transmission area of the transmitter after a certain sorting. For most radio stations it is sorted as follows:

Danger zones on the highway
Danger spots on federal highways

The numbers are sorted in ascending order. The first digit is often decisive for this, for example A1, A3, A5 and so on. This makes it easier to prepare for when the motorway you are driving on will come.

The location, which is said, indicates the names of the junction or parking spaces on the motorway. The next largest cities are named on the main road. This also allows the direction of the handicap to be recognized. Follow the Autobahn and the federal road:

Hazardous areas on country roads
Hazardous areas in metropolitan areas

Hazardous areas are, for example, unsecured accident sites, objects on the road or extremely bad weather. When the hazardous areas are ready, the same sequence is applied to traffic jams or slow-moving traffic:

Traffic jams on the highway sorted in ascending order by highway number
Traffic jams on federal roads sorted in ascending order by federal road number
Traffic jams on country roads
Traffic jams in metropolitan areas

Then reports from neighboring federal states or countries are mentioned. Especially during the holiday season, for example, Austrian or Swiss passports are also mentioned in southern Germany.

If, for example, there are no federal highways with problems, these are skipped and switched directly to the city area.

In addition to displaying a list of TMC and TMC-Pro messages, some radios also have the option of playing the announcement again because it was recorded. E.g. the navigation device of the Audi A3 8P model .

In regions with a generally high volume of traffic, often only the motorway jams from a certain length are announced in order not to disturb the radio program for too long. For example, on the radio station 1Live , the station's app is pointed out, which contains all traffic jams.

Reporting sources

The current reports come from various places to the radio stations. To report police , control centers of firefighters , rescue services or automobile clubs disabilities or roadblocks. In recent years, the broadcasters have often set up specific telephone numbers as hotlines , where every driver can leave his messages free of charge.

technology

The "traffic beeper" (officially: Hinz-Triller) introduced in 1974 controlled the automatic switching from cassette to traffic radio or increasing the volume. This function has also been implemented in RDS since 1988 ; the outdated ARI was switched off by all ARD radio chains on February 28, 2005 after a transition period of over 10 years. Older, non-RDS-compatible car radios can therefore no longer automatically switch to traffic programs.

Today, depending on the equipment, car radios have special facilities to transmit traffic reports to the user:

The playback of a CD or a cassette is interrupted by an inaudible RDS program code and the traffic announcement sounds. Some stations also play the audible Hinz trill at the beginning and end of the announcement.
For announcements, the volume can be set separately so that it is easier to pay attention. For better understanding, they are reproduced monophonically on some devices .
EON ( Enhanced Other Network ): If you listen to a station without traffic announcements (this is particularly the case with cultural and classic waves) and this function is activated, the radio automatically switches to a traffic information station during a traffic announcement.
TIM ( Traffic Information Memo ): The radio saves the messages when it is switched off and plays them back when switched on. Corresponding programming of the car radio is always required, about one hour before the start of the planned use.
TMC ( Traffic Message Channel ): This digital radio data service, which uses RDS for distribution, is used by navigation systems (e.g. radio / PDA ) to automatically bypass traffic jams and obstructions (dynamic route guidance).

Road Signs

From 1974 to 2003 there were around 10,000 signs according to sign 368 on the motorways (Appendix 3 to Section 42 Paragraph 2 StVO, colloquially "radio information boards"). They displayed the frequencies of the VHF radio with ARI.

Road signs with programs that broadcast traffic information and the corresponding transmission frequency are also constantly being set up along the Austrian motorways and expressways .

Traffic news before the radio era

The traffic situation in Berlin (Volks-Zeitung 1922)

There was traffic news in newspapers long before radio, but only on special occasions, because the print medium could never report as up-to-date as radio. On the morning of February 2, 1922 , the Berliner Volks-Zeitung printed a traffic assessment on its front page about the strike of the Reich Union of German Railway Officials and Trainees . Based on the information from the previous evening, the newspaper suspected a slow start of the strike and relatively normal traffic in the morning.

Individual evidence

↑ ARD switches off the Driver Information System (ARI). In: deutschlandfunk.de . Deutschlandradio, February 26, 2005, accessed on July 19, 2017 .
↑ Traffic radio will be abolished - no more traffic jams on Germany radio. In: deutschlandfunk.de. January 30, 2020, accessed July 9, 2020 .
↑ The Ö3 traffic editorial team introduces itself. In: oe3.orf.at . Retrieved August 4, 2020.
↑ The German forest of signs is shrinking. In: autobild.de . November 13, 2002, accessed January 2, 2020 .

[1] ARD switches off the Driver Information System (ARI). In: deutschlandfunk.de . Deutschlandradio, February 26, 2005, accessed on July 19, 2017 .

[2] Traffic radio will be abolished - no more traffic jams on Germany radio. In: deutschlandfunk.de. January 30, 2020, accessed July 9, 2020 .

[3] The Ö3 traffic editorial team introduces itself. In: oe3.orf.at . Retrieved August 4, 2020.

[4] The German forest of signs is shrinking. In: autobild.de . November 13, 2002, accessed January 2, 2020 .