Danish Road Directorate

Project is designed to reduce heavy goods vehicle traffic in centre of Copenhagen

Denmark has become the first country in the world to rely on GPS probe data to monitor traffic and congestion on a national scale. The Danish Road Directorate has awarded Inrix the contract to provide real-time traffic information throughout the country, enabling it to monitor traffic flow and gridlock more effectively. The Danish Road Directorate has more than 10 years' experience of using GPS data to monitor traffic and believes that gathering real-time information from private and commercial vehicle

A two-year experiment by the Danish road directorate shows accidents have fallen on single-carriageway rural roads and motorways where the speed limit was raised. Since the speed limit on some stretches of two-way rural roads was increased from 80 to 90 km/h, accidents have decreased due to a reduction in the speed differential between the slowest and fastest cars, resulting in less overtaking. The slowest drivers have increased their speeds, but the fastest 15 per cent drive one km/h slower on average

The Danish Road Directorate and Daluiso have developed a new type of road sign to make road works and maintenance tasks more efficient. Called 'swap signs', their function is to flap open/shut near road works, spring cleaning or grass cutting by contractors.

In the first five months of 2012, the number of traffic related deaths in Denmark was down by 25 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2011. In May, the number of deaths in traffic was by nearly half - 13 compared with 25 the previous year. The Danish Road Directorate (Vejdirektoratet) and the Council for Road Safety (Rådet for Sikker Trafik) call the figures remarkable. However, the authorities have difficulty explaining the exact reason for the sharp decline but cite rising fuel prices, the eco