Public wants more information on road closures and diversions - report

A study of public sector websites highlights the public, while satisfied with information on road works, is dissatisfied with information available on road closures and diversions.

SOCITM, the society representing public service IT professionals, identifies good practice in local authority websites in its report Better Connected 2014. This year it devotes a special section to measuring the user experience and satisfaction of accessing roadworks and road closures information.

The highest satisfaction rate here was that 91% of the public found information on road works using Google, and that the roadworks.org website provided by ELGIN is "the primar means of accessing road works information".

The lowest satisfaction rates from the public was in finding closures and diversions information. THis is a gap that ELGIN said it is currently addressing with a new traffic management app.

SOCITM's report concludes with its recommendation for more collaborative sharing of this important public information across the boundaries of Local Authorities, saying that "there does seem to be a good case for using roadworks.org, with one major advantage being that it provides information about road works generally, rather than just within a council's patch".

The results also suggest that council websites need to move faster to accommodate the growth in the use of mobile phones to access on-line services.