WIRELESS SERVICE
Heading toward the freeway in San Francisco, I barely noticed the news of generic vehicular hazards and a terse 10-word message about an animal loose on the highway. Then TrafficStation sent word of an accident just around the bend from my usual on-ramp. I was skeptical but opted for surface streets anyway - and, in no time, passed hundreds of disgusted commuters stuck behind a string of signal flares and a beached big rig. No kidding - a sewage truck had overturned. I suddenly felt like I'd found a new best friend.
Now that cell-phone carriers offer handsets with Web browsers, many of the data services we enjoyed on our desktops are available anywhere. TrafficStation is a great example of a site taking advantage of wireless data. I used my desktop browser to subscribe to the free My TrafficStation service and program my routes. Then it was almost too easy to use my Sprint NP1000 phone to select the TrafficStation bookmark, identify my account, and get an instant traffic fix.
The only problem I found was that looking at the small screen while driving down the street can become dangerously addictive. Thankfully, TrafficStation keeps reports simple - nothing more than the time, location, and category of incident - so briefing yourself on conditions along your route is as easy as glancing at the speedometer. And to minimize your effort even further, for $5 a month you can program the company's Personal Traffic Advisor service to automatically call you up or send you an email in the event of a truly nasty snag.
TrafficStation's continually updated reports reached me faster than the radio traffic announcer, but it has several competitors - including Metro Networks, which supplies data to radio stations by flying around in helicopters and monitoring city intersections electronically. For its national coverage, TrafficStation aggregates traffic reports from public sources like police departments and state agencies.
TrafficStation's public partnerships do have their advantages. Next summer, through an agreement with the New York State Department of Transportation, TrafficStation will be able to track signals from toll-paying transponders installed in cars to tell drivers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut metropolitan areas exactly how fast traffic is moving. They will also team with US Wireless to provide similar data for Maryland and Virginia by tracking signals from talkative motorists' cell phones. So TrafficStation users could soon find their heads spinning in a recursive loop as the phones they use to view traffic reports simultaneously provide the content of those same reports. Eventually, the fast lane will merely mean wherever TrafficStation users are.
My TrafficStation: Two routes free; Personal Traffic Advisor: $5 per month. TrafficStation: +1 (213) 929 2000,www.trafficstation.com.
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