In 1995-96 MIPP moves to San Francisco to replicate the work started in Los Angeles. The first step is a detailed content analysis of San Francisco traffic reporting. In December, the project team recorded morning and evening drive time traffic reports on various San Francisco radio stations. This information will then be coded and analyzed for values as described by Dr. Ball-Rokeach in her work on values and media system dependency.
Throughout the year project team members will be visiting all of the traffic reporting players in San Francisco. These include radio station managers, traffic reporting companies, CHP, Caltrans, advertisers, media buyers, and the individual traffic reporters. The goal is to completely understand and document the traffic reporting structure in San Francisco.
An interesting development in San Francisco will take place shortly after the new year. Metro traffic (a world-wide traffic reporting production company) will begin a federal pilot project called, "Trav-Info." Under the two year project, Metro will take over and manage the Bay Area Traffic Management Center. This innovative public-private partnership promises to bring some significant changes to traffic reporting once the new system is up and running.
In addition to the Trav-Info system, it will be interesting to see the differences between San Francisco and Los Angeles traffic reporting. Already subtle differences are apparent. In San Francisco, freeways are called "880" or "280;" in Los Angeles they are called "THE 10" or "THE 405". The MIPP project is dedicated to discovering small but potentially significant changes in traffic reporting terminology between the two regionsOur initial meetings in San Francisco have been quite encouraging. Please keep tuned to this page for more updates on the San Francisco portion of the MIPP Project.
In 1993, MIPP held an innovative and successful working conference in Southern California with the traffic reporting community. At that conference, the findings of the project were conveyed to participants. In addition, through small working groups, participants designed new and creative traffic reports using non-aggressive value frames.
The highlight of 1996 promises to be a statewide, "Media and Injury Prevention Program Conference." Scheduled for Friday November 1, 1996, this conference will bring together the key players from throughout the state to discuss the future of California traffic reporting. The conference will offer participants the opportunity to hear the findings of continuing studies Los Angeles and new reports from the Bay Area. Participants will be able to compare notes with colleagues in different areas. Finally, participants will come together to create and debate new ways of presenting vital traffic information with an eye to traffic safety.
Click here to go to the conference page.
