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Implement electronic variable message signs above each lane on the highway that can be adjusted dynamically by Police or Dispatchers, alerting drivers of incidents well ahead of time.
Signs
The variable message signs apply to the lane or slip road below them. For the highway, a sign over each lane will be required. These signs would be spaced out appropriately to allow for blocks that can be closed without impacting a large section of the road, at the very minimum before and after each junction.
For on-ramps, a single variable message sign would be used. No message signs are required for off-ramps as they leave the highway.
Signs are bordered by a black plate with lights that flash amber for temporary lane restrictions, and red (at a faster frequency) for lane closures. The suggested states are as follows:
 | No restriction (Open) | Indicates the normal maximum legal speed for that lane. Drivers must not exceed the limit displayed on the sign. |
 | Temporary Speed Limit | Indicates a reduced maximum legal speed for that lane. Drivers must not exceed the limit displayed on the sign. |
 | Turn Left/Right | When safe, drivers should move to the lane in the direction of the arrow. If the arrow points to the edge of the highway, drivers must leave at the next exit. |
 | Lane Closed | Drivers must not proceed in the lane marked. |
The states of the signs would be codefined in the laws under 12.15 Road Markings and Signage.
Text message signs could also be used to complement the lane signs, providing traffic information to drivers such as 'Accident Ahead', 'Exit Closed', et cetera.
Control
Below are examples of two ways that these variable signs could be controlled by a menu. All officers can access the menu, but only Road Traffic Officers, Dispatchers, and Supervisors can make changes to the signage. If no officers/dispatchers with editing privileges are on-duty anymore, the active traffic controls will expire and clear after 5 minutes.
1. Manual Control
Each variable message sign is represented by a silk icon overlaid on a map of the highway. By default, the signs are all either turned off or set to the default '80' speed limit.
Left clicking on an icon creates an 'incident' (if one does not already exist) that allows the officer to set the state of the message sign, add notes, and press a button to automatically broadcast the restrictions active on that lane with the reason (if provided). For example:
Dispatch: [Traffic Alert] Suburbs Highway (N) Lane 2 Closed | Reason: Stranded vehicle
Right clicking on an icon sets it to 'Closed'.
Tracking changes as 'incidents' like this allows for better logging and management of the sign messages but is complex to implement.
2. Partially Automated Control
Instead of changing individual signs, officers can select 'blocks' of highway to either close, open, or impose a speed restriction on. The highway signage logic will then figure out which signs need to be changed and to what, do so automatically, and broadcast it. An example of how the lane closures are handled in real life for signs that get progressively closer to the incident: https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/red-x/.
In this example, as both lanes of Business Hwy E are blocked, the on-ramp is automatically set to 'Closed', as are the signals immediately after the last exit before the Business Highway. The signals before that are set to 'Turn Right' indicating that drivers should exit the highway at the next junction.
Why should this be added?:
+ Significant quality of life feature for both emergency services (including roadcrew, medics, and firefighters) and normal drivers alike.
+ Reduces collisions and tiers from unaware or inattentive drivers, increasing driver and officer safety, allows traffic to flow smoothly with fewer last-second merges.
+ Somewhat necessary given the constant abandoned vehicles/hazards in the roadway causing an almost-constant danger, especially with a larger highway and greater speed limits.
+ Compliments the use of the PBC function, as well as traffic control measures such as contraflow movement, cones, and barriers well, while also meaning that officers can immediately close a lane during an incident where cones cannot be placed down quickly enough and simultaneously send out a broadcast automatically.
+ Immersive and intuitive system that fits perfectly with the modern aesthetic of Paralake and the custom and unique nature of the server
+ A few more positive aspects that I haven't listed here, such as allowing roleplay like checkpoints and lane narrowing to be much more accessible.
What negatives could this have?:
- Requires additional training and scrutiny for Road Traffic Officers to prevent misuse, though this is easily refuted by pointing out that far more disruptive methods of abuse exist for RTOs such as placing blockades.
- Significant development work to implement
What problem would this suggestion solve?: Listed above; fixes road cones being almost unnecessary due to high speed frequently resulting in an unavoidable collision
Additional images:
An older verison of this suggestion (https://perpheads.com/threads/electronic-highway-signs.54942/) was previously accepted, but eventually closed after the development vision changed. This suggestion has been reopened as the scale and speed of the highways has expanded dramatically since the original idea in V5.
Developers, contact me if you'd like more detail on how this could work.
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