The security PC located on the outskirts of Dijon monitors the Burgundy-Franche-Comté motorways in particular. This Saturday, July 22, the prefect Franck Robine exchanged with the teams of the checkpoint as well as with the journalists of Autoroute Info.
During the summer period, APRR reinforces the surveillance of its motorway network to support users who experience incidents or interact with internal security forces and emergency services in the event of an accident.
This Saturday, July 22, 2023, Franck Robine, prefect of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, went to meet the teams of an APRR security PC, located in Saint-Apollinaire, on the outskirts of Dijon.
Three PCs to collect and process events on the highways
A subsidiary of the Eiffage group, the concessionaire APRR manages a network of 1,350 km of A6, A5, A31, A36 and A39 motorways, going from Paris to Mâcon, Mulhouse and Nancy.
In contact with the patrollers, the checkpoint monitors, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, the construction sites in progress, the identification and signaling of traffic jams and processes the various events.
Thus, this is where emergency calls end up at the orange terminals located every two kilometers along the highways or via the geolocated SOS Autoroute application (available free of charge for Android or iOS, find the presentation of APRR). In particular, the checkpoint can call on an approved repairman to intervene on a broken down vehicle.
“We are at the crossroads of Europe”, notes Pierre Faure-Geors, regional director APRR Paris and Rhine, “we are recruiting relatively polyglot PC operators”.
All communications are recorded. If necessary, the security PC can also save the video stream from some of the 500 cameras distributed along the network.
Apart from the Saint-Apollinaire PC, APRR has two other control posts: in Genay (Rhône), north of Lyon, specialized in tunnels, and near Chambéry (Savoie) to monitor the AREA network in particular. In all, on the three sites, about twenty personnel contribute to the road safety of users of the APRR and AREA networks.
Reinforcements for major departures
At the time of the prefect’s visit, the A6 between Beaune and Mâcon was particularly monitored because it was saturated with more than 4,500 vehicles per hour heading south. The section is displayed in black on the screens of the security PC. Attendance, however, corresponds to expectations for the weekend.
Usually, the team at Saint-Apollinaire is made up of a room manager and four operators at the control post as well as two staff at the level of the traffic safety information platform which communicates in particular on the website and social media. For periods of heavy traffic, an operator comes as backup. Ditto in Genay and Chambéry.
“The operator is on the job. It is he who allows us to be in the action and who is very reactive, as soon as he has the information that arrives, which is qualified, automatically, he will immediately commit the means to be able to respond, ”explains Rodolphe Sire, head of the operational traffic safety department at APRR.
On average, 35,000 events occur on the APRR and AREA networks between June 15 and September 15.
New road safety measures
“It’s very impressive”, comments Franck Robine at the end of the visit, emphasizing that the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region is “strategic” because of its 900 km of motorways.
The State representative urges drivers to be careful, underlines the mobilization of services and recalls the new measures taken on July 17 by the government in terms of road safety (find the file).
For his part, Pierre Faure-Geors insists on the principle of the security corridor. Registered in the Highway Code since 2018, the rule requires that a vehicle leave a margin lane to overtake a vehicle stopped on the motorway, to avoid brushing against the people involved, users or patrollers (find the explanations of APRR).
A more “current” musical style on Autoroute Info
In the same building, take place the studios and the newsroom of the radio Autoroute Info which transmits on the frequency of 107.7 MHz along the networks of the concessionaire.
Since 1991, Autoroute Info has offered traffic information as well as news flashes, programs showing local points of interest as well as musical tracks.
“A work is done on the music”, reports the journalist Eliott Monod, “two people take care, apart from their other missions, of the musical programming”. “We try to be on a slightly more current mix to satisfy all audiences; we are going to make a clever mix between novelties, things that are in tune with the times and great classics, of various styles.
During major departures, “more than three out of five vehicles” listen to Autoroute Info
“On average, there are two out of five vehicles listening to us,” the journalist pointed out to the prefect, “during the weekends of major departures, the audience volumes are really high with more than three out of five vehicles”.
“We have performance indicators: we have to give certain information when it reaches us in less than two minutes”, specifies Eliott Monod about traffic information. As such, the radio is close to 100% success.
“When you broadcast something on the radio, it’s safe!”
Faced with declarative information from community applications such as Waze or Coyote, Pierre Faure-Geors emphasizes that the patrollers are sworn in: “our information is controlled; when you broadcast something on the radio, that’s for sure”.
Ditto for traffic management and the establishment of alternative routes. “The problem is the alternative route of the applications”, notes Rodolphe Sire. “In our PCs, we are in contact with all the external road managers, we are in contact with the prefectural authorities, it is they who will decide on a traffic management plan to be implemented. We must ensure that the external network is viable and that it can accommodate all the vehicles that we are going to direct.
The Ministry of Transport ensures the application of the specifications
Some thirty journalists contribute to developing information intended for users of the APRR and AREA networks.
The A71, A75 and A79, between Bourges, Digoin and Clermont-Ferrand, as well as the A65, between Langon and Pau, are covered from Saint-Apollinaire by a dedicated team. Another radio studio is next to the PC in Chambéry for situations concerning the AREA network.
Autoroute Info is a brand of the Autoroute radio information company, a subsidiary of APRR. The radio’s traffic information missions are governed by specifications drawn up by APRR and the Ministry of Transport, which regularly checks the radio.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon
The file of the Interministerial Road Safety Committee on the measures taken on July 17, 2023
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