As the UK continues to improve upon its roadways, the Hertfordshire County Council is looking to QR codes to help spread information regarding these efforts. In the UK, road work has acquired a degree of infamy. Residents have often criticized both the local and national government for not providing enough information on when or where road work will be occurring. These shortfalls in communication have led to many delays in traffic, especially in rural areas where there are no alternative routes to take to avoid road work.
The Hertfordshire County Council is turning to QR codes to alleviate this problem, hoping that the codes will allow citizens to obtain information more quickly than by other methods. The Council has begun field testing the codes at three locations throughout the county. Each code is linked to a mobile website where residents can find road work schedules. The codes can also be used to find detours that bypass construction to help drivers avoid lengthy setbacks in travel.
The codes have already seen modest use, drawing in more than 100 people in their first week of existence. If the Council’s trial of the codes is successful, they will seek to use the codes on a much larger scale.
QR codes are already plastered on several bus stops and throughout the London Underground, which means residents of the UK have already been exposed to the barcodes. This fact may boost the traffic the codes in Hertfordshire generate as residents may already be familiar with them.
