Safety First!

Driving home from work the other day, it became apparent that the world would be incredibly lost without signage, especially digital signage.

Highway signage has evolved over the decades to the point where there are not large LED electronic cabinets mounted to scaffolding over the middle of the road. The point? Constant alerts. The point of these are generally brief comments to alert a driver about the current traffic or road conditions. Although not something I really dive into myself (leave this to the government subcontractors), this is till something to recognize and appreciate. Although new bills are being passed in the federal government to alert citizens about things such as amber alerts or national security concerns, this digital signage on the highway is still a breakthrough idea for real-time updates. Here's the inside scoop on really the basic idea:
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Good intentions
The intention of roadside LED text messages is to communicate ongoing traffic conditions to drivers in as close to real-time updates as possible. Known as 'roadside incidents' the sign systems report on any number of traffic incidents including slow downs, accidents, construction, lane closures, weather concerns, amber alerts and travel time alerts. The LED sign network is dedicated to keeping drivers aware of these situations and providing safe traffic conditions. In the event of any deviation of these "safe driving conditions" drivers are immediately alerted via updated messages with a status alert and if necessary, an alternate route to by-pass the incident. Typical message alerts can vary from global messages that cover the entire network (from amber alerts to posted speed limits) to messages dedicated to a road incident along a specific highway route.
The integration of LED message centers into highway traffic management is part of a more complex information gathering network know as the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) program. ITS is an initiative of the United States DOT to add information technology as a traffic management component to each state-wide transportation infrastructure. ITS does this with the goal of improving safety and reducing vehicle wear, negative transportation times and fuel costs. The central component of maintaining real-time roadside communications with LED message centers in the ITS world it is known as Dynamic Message Signs (DMS), though some state-wide DOTs describe them as Variable or Changeable Message Signs (VMS or CMS).
In building a DMS highway network, a subset of its ITS requirement is that different sign manufacturers who provide LED sign systems are able to properly communicate with the DOTs command center's sign network software program. This is known as interoperability and defined by the National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation Systems (NTCIP) protocols. The outcome of this protocol establishes a traffic control standard that allows DOTs to "mix and match" different kinds of LED sign equipment allowing them to operate in a common sign network, despite any unique manufacturing or operating characteristic they may have.
Understanding the DMS roadside environment is a study of how the various DOTs maintain and acquire electronic signage for their highways. One side being how the DOTs use VMS and the other side referring to a select group of LED sign manufacturers who supply VMS to the various state DOTs. To understand the DOTs needs both Georgia and Washington state DOT command centers were interviewed on the importance of VMS for traffic management. This is followed with an overview of several LED sign manufacturers who supply VMS signage to the state-wide DOTs as needed.(Source: http://www.signindustry.com/led/articles/2007-08-LB-Variable_Message_Systems_Used_by_DOT.php3)