Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

Variable Message Signs (VMS) are located at key decision points on the motorway and trunk road network. They are used by the Highways Agency (HA) to help manage the network by providing advanced warning to drivers of emergencies and incidents. VMS are also used to warn drivers of events that may cause delays in the future such as road works and major events.

There are currently around 2,800 VMS on the Highways Agency network. Of these 459 are located at key decision points around the network i.e. before major junctions such as the M5/M6 link.

Messages displayed on VMS are limited to those that help drivers complete their journey safely and efficiently. VMS cannot be used for advertising or any other unnecessary information.

There are a number of types of VMS in use on the Agency's network and they provide the capability to display a wide range of warnings, messages and other traffic information.

The Highways Agency is responsible for setting all the VMS on the strategic road network.  Messages are set in one of three ways;

1. Regional Control Centres (RCCs) - There are 7 RCCs which are responsible for the setting of tactical messages within their allocated region.
2. National Traffic Operations Centre (NTOC) - This single control room is responsible for the strategic operation of the HA road network.  This includes setting messages for long distance diversion routes and also campaign messages.
3. Automatic Signaling such as Motorway Incident Detection and Automated Signalling (MIDAS).

VMS are an essential requirement in allowing the HA to operate the network. Without VMS new initiatives such as Managed Motorways would not be possible.

To see VMS messages currently being displayed to drivers, please go to the Traffic England website.

For further information about VMS please see our Direct Gov VMS pages.

The current version of the HA VMS policy is V1.01 and copies can be requested via our contact us section.