How hard can it really be to activate traffic announcements?

[Ari]

That thing where your radio interrupts your CD or other radio station to bring you local radio news. Very useful, especially if you have an Audi as they automatically record each announcement (did she say M6 northbound or southbound..?).

But seriously, how hard can it be to activate and then switch off the service before and after the traffic announcement?

Regularly I'll get just a burst of music for no reason, or half the news, or just the end of the traffic report, or all the traffic report and then five minutes of local hick DJ utter twaddle.

Can it really be that difficult to switch on and off???

[mnkiboy]

I'd be interested to know how it works. The amount of times you get a traffic report, then end up listening to 5 mins of the following program - does make you think they're doing it deliberately. And yes, I know you can cancel it any time.

[Ari]

I'm sure sometimes it's to try and get you to listen to their station, but more often than not it's just clunkingly bad timing, such as starting the TA broadcasting halfway through or at the end of the announcement so all you get is "and that was the travel" type of thing.

[mybrainhurts]

It's always out of date and fed by the Highways Agency, who have no idea what's going on...

[Cost Captain]

I'll never forget being about 10 years old in my mums mk4 golf estate, and the dealer had very kindly put the traffic announcements feature on for her during a service. Problem was, she didn't know how to turn it off. and a radio station had hit the TA button. and for about 20 minutes, they kept on saying "oh, i think i pressed the TA button. but i don't want to press it again, incase i didn't press it before." and then they asked people to phone in if they had pressed it and this went on and on and on.

In a mk4 golf, changing radio station would revert back to the TA station. Putting on a CD would revert back to the TA station. Switching the stereo off would revert back to the TA station.

If only I'd known about fuses back then.

[blueg33]

The West Midlands announcements bug the hell out of me. They always turn it on a few seconds after the announcement that says "...Long delays at Junction 5" Great the name of the motorway is missing, and there are loads of motorways in the West Mids and they do this all the time - How Hard Can It Be?

[Ari]

Precisely!!!