Highways Agency

• Traffic Incident Management Bulletin

November 2007

An important part of incident management is ensuring the media are broadcasting accurate, up to date and factually correct information. This is critical to ensuring that the public have the correct information to make a decision on their journey. The majority of incident responders have their own arrangements in place to manage interest from the media. This article gives a brief overview of how the Highways Agency interfaces with the media during an incident.

General protocols

With the various responders all providing messages to the media it is important that they are consistent with each other and equally do not just reiterate each other. The Highways Agency and the Association of Chief Police Officers have a National Guidance Framework which takes account for this. There are arrangements in place to ensure that for a police led incident, for example, the Highways Agency will only provide traffic and travel information leaving the Police Press Office to inform the media about the nature and cause of the incident.

National Incident Liaison Officers

The National Incident Liaison Officer (NILO) team is based at the National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) in Quinton. The team operates 24/7 and manages information about incidents on the network.

Network information is provided to the NILO team by the seven Regional Control Centres (RCC). This local information is collated to give the NILO a complete picture of what’s happening across England.

The NILO’s role is to pass incident related information to the right Agency people, as well as passing on information to the Highways Agency Information Line (HAIL) and the media. There is currently a trial running to allow the NILO access to the Traffic Officer Command and Control System to ensure current information is available when they need it.

NILO passes the information to a wide number of media organisations/Traffic Information Providers (TIPS). Any specific media enquiries or interview requests regarding incidents on the network are directed to the relevant RCC Press Officer (or the Duty Press Officer out-of-hours) to handle.

Regional Control Centre Press Officers

A Press Officer is based at each of the seven Regional Control Centres (RCC). The Press Officer is responsible for co-ordinating PR requirements for the Traffic Operations Directorate in their region, as well as handling all local media enquiries relating to the Traffic Officer Service. In addition during an incident they ensure that the most up to date information is made available to the media.

In brief the NILO will keep all TIPS informed who in turn will issue traffic information to their media outlets; however a serious incident can result in a large number of media enquiries, which are handled by the appropriate Regional Press Officer. Significant incidents may require the Press Officers to interact with their counterparts in the other emergency services in dealing with media interest.

During less serious incidents the RCC Operators will update TIPS with the latest information and liaise with the RCC Press Officer as required.

The RCC Press Officer can arrange for individuals to be available for interview by the media if required or will simply issue statements relating to the incident. Information is usually obtained from the Regional Control Centre.

National Traffic Control Centre

The National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) is aware of the traffic conditions across the Highways Agency network 24/7. Any incident or event that is causing disruption to the traffic flow is noted and when certain criteria are met the information is disseminated electronically. This dissemination includes TIPS, Local Authorities, Airports, Freight Transport Association, Road Haulage Association, and many more. Agreements are in place with over 250 partner organisations.

The NTCC staff are unlikely to provide media interviews for specific incidents. The information is generally distributed electronically to allow the media to broadcast the most up to date information.

Government News Network / HA Press Officers

The Highways Agency's Regional Press Officers also liaise with the Government News Network (GNN) who currently manages a considerable proportion of planned media contact. An example of this would be at the start of a new road maintenance project. During an incident GNN may be required to interface with the media but typically incident enquiries are managed by the RCC Press Officers.

Highways Agency Website - Traffic Information

This uses data from the NTCC to provide a graphical representation of conditions on the Highways Agency network. This is a useful tool for journey planning as well, as it has a traffic forecaster function - visit Traffic England.

Traffic Radio

This has been covered in a previous TIM bulletin article. Traffic Radio provides up to date information via the internet or DAB radio.

Future TIM bulletin articles

The subject of media liaison is wide ranging and there are various different ways the Highways Agency can interface depending on the circumstances. This article has only been able to give a flavour of each pathway to the media. If you would like to know more about any of these please email the TIM Team and let us know. We will then schedule in an update article with further details.

Has this article been worthwhile reading? Why not take a moment to send us your comments, thoughts or questions. Please e-mail TIMbulletin@highways.gsi.gov.uk.