Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling

Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling, usually abbreviated to MIDAS, is a distributed network of traffic sensors, mainly inductive loops, (trialling at the moment radar technology by Wavetronix and magneto-resistive wireless sensors by Clearview Intelligence) which are designed to alert the local RCC (Regional Control Centre) to traffic flow and average speeds and in ATM (Active Traffic Management) zones, set variable message signs, advisory speed limits along with mandatory speed limits in ATM sections with little human intervention. Companies such as RAC, TomTom and Google use this traffic flow data via halogens reporting systems.

It is installed on all sections of the United Kingdom's motorways, originally on the congested western stretch of the M25 motorway and much of the M60 motorway around Manchester, the Birmingham box (M6, M5 and M42). MIDAS is installed on all new build and is being retrofitted at most/all resurfacing to all sections of UK motorways. The system has successfully reduced accidents. Additionally, the system is installed on parts of the non-motorway trunk road network including the A14.

The system replaced the Automatic Incident Detection (AID) system which was trialled in 1989 on an 83 kilometres (52 mi) section of the M1 motorway. MIDAS was first operated on the M25 in the SouthWest quadrant before the section went live with a variable speed limit.

By March 2006, the Highways Agency aimed to have MIDAS installed on more than 910 kilometres (565 mi) of the English motorway network.

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