Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:45, 23 February 2006

Revision as of 19:59, 23 February 2006

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:{{otheruses2|MIDAS}}

'''Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling''', usually abbreviated to '''MIDAS''', is a distributed network of [[traffic]] and [[weather]] [[sensor]]s, which are designed to set variable message signs and advisory speed limits with little human intervention. On the M25 and [[speedM42 cameramotorway]]s, andthe MIDAS helps set mandatory variable speed limit signs whichas controlpart trafficof speedsthe with''controlled littlemotorway human supervisionscheme''.

It is presently ([[2006]]) installed on someseveral sections of the United Kingdom's busiest motorways, such as the congested south-western stretch of the [[M25 motorway]] (near [[Woking]]) and much of the [[M60 motorway]] around [[Manchester]] (although speed cameras and mandatory speed limit signs are not operational on the M60) and the system has successfully reduced congestionaccidents [http://www.ha-research.co.uk/projects/index.php?id=437].

The system replaced the ''Automatic Incident Detection (AID)'' system which was trialled in 1989 on an 83 km section of the [[M1 motorway]]. MIDAS was first installed on the M25 in 1997, after this section already had the variable speed limit (''controlled motorway'') scheme.

By March 2006, the [[Highways Agency]] aims to have MIDAS installed on more than 910km of the English motorway network.