A safety watchdog has welcomed a scheme which will give drivers a 'real time' estimate of how long their journey will take along some of the region's busiest routes.
Roadside electronic signs at junctions on stretches of the M6 and M5 will give motorists an up-to-the-minute estimate of the time their journey will take and warns them to take alternative routes if necessary.
The information will come from the National Traffic Control Centre as part of a region-wide trial lasting until early September.
The area covered by the trial stretches from M6 Stoke (J15) to M5 Bristol (J17) and M6 Stoke (J15) to its junction with the M1 (J19) (excluding M6 Toll and the M42), covering a total distance of 160 miles.
The software being employed uses historical traffic data for the two motorways, adjusted every five minutes by information from automatic number plate recognition cameras (ANPRs) to reflect current conditions.
If a road accident causes delays on the motorway above a certain threshold, the message will automatically switch from the travel time message to show the estimated delay.
Steve Crosthwaite, head of the the National Traffic Control Centre, in Quinton, Birmingham, said the scheme was running until September with a view to expanding it nationwide if successful.
"Motorists can decide to continue into the queue, stop at services and wait for the delays to ease or they can find an alternative route,' he explained.
"It will also certainly help cut congestion as well as inform motorists as it will divert drivers away from busy roads.
"The times are updated every five minutes so they should be accurate, but we welcome feedback from motorists."
He said 75 per cent of motorists fail to plan their journey and urged them to also use the agency's website, trafficengland.org, to check for congestion on their planned route.
He added computers were being put up at service stations along the motorways involved in the pilot to allow motorists to check on the roads they were planning to use.
A booklet is also available that gives information on the Highways Agency information line, 08457 504030, where callers can find out about delays.
A map is also included in the booklet so drivers can find alternative routes.
Mr Crosthwaite urged motorists to call the information line with their experiences of the scheme to find out how useful it was.
Kevin Clinton, head of road safety at RoSPA, said he welcomed the scheme.
"Hopefully they will help drivers plan and maybe even relax because they have more information," he said. "But their effects will be monitored closely by the Highways Agency.
Mr Rogers said motorists were being discouraged from perceiving the journey times as a target to beat.
"It is always a concern that motorists are trying to be a bit silly and competitive about things and we would urge drivers to keep within the speed limits," he said.
"There will be no time when drivers are compelled to go beyond the speed limit to reach their destination in the time given, but you do see people speeding along all the time, trying to beat the person in front of them."
