iPhone Traffic App Exceeds 50,000 Downloads

An iPhone application developed by the Highways Agency has been downloaded more than 50,000 times according to the government department which monitors congestion on England’s roads.

The free app, launched in February, is the fourth most downloaded free application on Apple’s App Store, according to the Highways Agency. The application provides users with their current location using GPS. The results are shown as a list of incidents and planned roadworks in the area, as well as traffic updates. The system even tunes into the Highway Agency’s radio station to provide traffic updates.

“By making our information freely available we are making it easier for people to plan their journeys,” said Highways Agency director of traffic management Simon Sheldon-Wilson.  “A few moments checking the route ahead before people set off can help us all cut congestion, save fuel and reduce carbon emissions.”

But despite endorsement by the agency itself and some positive reviews on the App Store, the application only received two and a half stars out of five according to an overall customer review. Some users pointed out that the application lacks a visual map to make tracking traffic hot-spots easier.

“…not having a map is a real letdown,” commented App Store user MaxromUK. “Almost all the traffic apps have this and personally I find it useful to see an incident on a map as I don’t always know the road numbers.”

The Highways Agency app was also criticised for only covering some roads and being limited to England. “This is an interesting start. Could be very useful after an update or two to include major A roads, especially A1 (M),” commented another App Store user Jaynesie.