For immediate release                                                                     
07 January 2009

NEW YEARS’ RESOLUTION: GET TO WORK (AND HOME!) ON TIME WITH TRAFFICMASTER’S ROUTE GUARD

Trafficmaster, the UK’s leading provider of intelligent driving solutions, has launched its new mobile traffic information service ‘Route Guard’, to help commuters get to work and home on time. Accessible across all mobile phone networks by dialling 1740, drivers are able to receive up to the minute text messages on their mobiles phones alerting them to traffic delays on their own personally specified routes.

Route Guard is ideally suited to commuters. Using the 1740 traffic information service, operated by Trafficmaster, drivers can chose Route Guard from the main menu and are then connected to a Trafficmaster Personal Assistant (PA). The PA will then set the details of the main roads on which you intend to travel on and the times you will be travelling. Should a delay occur on your specified route, you will be automatically alerted by a text message on your mobile phone on a daily basis.

Getting stuck in traffic is one of the biggest excuses for being late to work, but according to Trafficmaster research only one in three people check their routes for traffic before they travel.

Tim Owen, Head of Traffic Services at Trafficmaster, comments:
“Lateness at work is said to cost businesses around £66 million a year in lost productivity (1), Using the Route Guard service is an effective way to manage your time better and help get you to work and meetings on time. We know that traffic is a problem for many commuters as our traffic monitoring network receives around 24,000 congestion alerts a day, leading to over 30,000 hours of wasted journey time sitting in traffic (2).”

Drivers can set up four journeys and can change settings or cancel the service at any time. Each SMS alert will cost 25p and the driver can specify the number of alerts they would like to receive over a given time. 

ENDS

(1) Study carried out across various UK industries by employment law specialist, Peninsula Business Wise

(2) Trafficmaster provides around 410,500 route diversions a month on its Smartnav satellite navigation system. This equates to a total average monthly time saving 30,616 hours.

More information:
Georgina Read, Trafficmaster plc
T: 01234 759315
E: georgina.read@trafficmaster.co.uk

About Trafficmaster
Trafficmaster is an expert in intelligent driving.  The Group comprises US-based Teletrac Inc. and Trafficmaster Plc in the UK.  Both organisations focus on intelligent vehicle services which enhance the driving experience and improve business performance by saving companies and drivers’ time and money and reducing their environmental impact.

Teletrac Inc offers fleet tracking, management and navigation solutions under the Fleet Director brand across the US, serving 5,000 fleets and a total of 75,000 commercial vehicles, using wireless and GPS technology.
The group has also developed a suite of Trafficmaster services in the UK.  Trafficmaster's key product is the award-winning Smartnav, an intelligent satellite navigation system, which uses live traffic information and real-time road speeds to calculate optimum routes and avoid traffic congestion on the way.  Trafficmaster's comprehensive traffic data means Smartnav is continually updated with traffic information, road closures and speed camera locations, without the need for CDs or internet-sourced updates.

Trafficmaster also offers Trackstar stolen vehicle tracking, monitored 24 hours a day in the Trafficmaster Control Centre.  Stolen vehicles can automatically inform Trafficmaster and are then monitored remotely and police informed of their whereabouts for fast and efficient recovery.

The company provides live traffic information direct via mobile phone services and Radio Data System -Traffic Message Channel (RDS TMC) to other aftermarket and factory-fit satellite navigation systems.
Trafficmaster also maintains a unique traffic monitoring network of 7,500 sensors, covering 8,000 miles of UK motorways and trunk roads.

In 2007 the company launched its fleet management solution, Fleet Director, in the UK. Combining all of Trafficmaster’s intelligent technology businesses can save time and money, whilst reducing the environmental impact of driving.  

Trafficmaster was founded in 1988 and floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1994.  Teletrac Inc is a wholly owned US subsidiary company.

www.teletrac.net

www.trafficmaster.co.uk