Traffic Scotland is a service that is provided by Transport Scotland to ensure that journeys on Scotland’s roads are as safe and smooth as possible by gathering real-time information on Scotland’s trunk road and motorway network. That information is shared with road users on a number of platforms, including overhead gantry signs, to reduce the disruption that is caused by trunk road closures, congestion, events, road works, adverse weather, accidents and other incidents.

When gantry signs are not being used for such higher priority messages, there are two sets of background safety messages that are displayed, which are changed to coincide with summer traffic and winter traffic. Those messages are reviewed annually by Traffic Scotland. During the recent storms, the motorway gantry signs were utilised to inform the public of severe weather warnings.

All of this was discussed at the Transport Scotland winter service launch, which I attended recently.