NZ Automobile Association Launches Nationwide Real Time Traffic Service
Wednesday 14 October 2009, 5:00PM
By Luigi Cappel
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In accordance with its philosophy of keeping motorists moving, the AA has established a Real Time Traffic service, providing information about everything from road works to accidents covering all major roads around New Zealand. The service can be accessed online for free at www.aamaps.co.nz where you can plan a route and look at traffic incidents at the same time, or www.roadwatch.co.nz which can be customised to show only incidents in your local region.
The service includes the ability to subscribe to SMS and Email Alerts for your daily commute, area alerts for trades people, taxis, couriers and others who work in a defined area and the Weekend Getaway for people heading off for a long weekend. AA Traffic is also available as a service on selected car navigation devices, alerting the driver of incidents directly on their route. GeoSmart Maps Ltd General Manager, Phil Allen, said that he expects many people to now buy car navigation even if they know where they are going, because they won’t know if there are any accidents or incidents ahead. He also pointed out that “AA is very concerned about driver safety and cautions subscribers not to open and read alerts whilst driving. We don’t know whether you are in your car, driving or stationary. From 1 November you won’t be able to use your mobile other than through a hands free kit and this will include not holding your mobile to view SMS or email messages.”
As part of the product launch, AA is offering free AA Traffic Alerts subscriptions on Email until the end of the year; and Telecom Mobile is offering free SMS Alerts for all users of Telecom mobile phones on XT and CDMA, also until the end of the year.
Information is gathered from a number of sources including NZ Police, NZTA, Councils and other partners. The public are also invited to report serious incidents by free dialling *223 on their mobile.
Given the strong support for social networking as a way of sharing information you can now also find AA Traffic on Twitter and there is also a Facebook Fanpage here, where people can enter competitions, get updates on major events, such as the Auckland Bus Stike and AA Traffic can engage in conversation with interested people.