The transport ministry is alarmed at the number of different types of traffic warnings motorists are subjected to and is organising a round of consultations to sort it all out.

The ministry’s concern was sparked by the motorists association ANWB’s decision on Sunday evening to issue a traffic warning for the following morning’s rush hour. The ANWB said snow was forecast and as a result it expected over 500 kilometres of tailbacks. It was the first time the organisation had taken the bold step of issuing a traffic jam warning.
But the ministry says motorists are getting confused by the number of bad weather and all sorts of other traffic alarm being thrown at them.
Driver themselves, however, did not seem to be confused. Many more than usual started their journey earlier so that congestion at 6.45 on Monday morning was only 35 kilometres longer than usual. And by 8.30, the traffic jams were 30 kilometres shorter than usual. From which one could conclude that the ANWB warning helped spread the flow of traffic during the rush hour.
So why is the ministry getting on its high horse about this? It seems to be a bad case of ministry as control freak. Sidelines bets that the ANWB warnings will continue once the current round of talks is concluded – but then with the blessing of the ministry.
Surely the poor old car commuters deserve as much information as possible to decide what time they need to get up to go to work – or to put in for a day off.