With the December wet weather expected to stay this week, Trafficmaster the route planning and intelligent satellite navigations solution provider, has warned drivers that this Friday, the 18th looks set to be slow and very busy.

Schools are breaking up, people will be heading out on last minute shopping and many drivers will be heading off for a long Xmas break which will all contribute to the heavy traffic. The heaviest day will be the 18th but Trafficmaster is also predicting that Wednesday the 23rd December will also be busy as well.

Here are the top ten hotspots courtesy of Trafficmaster.

If you also want up to date traffic information on UK roads visit the link to the Trafficmaster live traffic mapping service  

http://www.trafficmaster.net/mapping/comparehire/index.htm

A new satellite navigation unit has been designed specifically for lorries making it possible for trucks to avoid narrow roads, low bridges and unsuitable routes. The new unit, the TomTom GO 7000 truck navigation solution, is available from the Freight Transport Association (FTA) and costs £379 plus VAT or the SD car on its own costs £139 plus VAT.

All drivers have to do is enter their vehicle’s weight and dimensions and the unit will then provide information on clearance heights, speed restrictions and other problematic obstacles. Driver’s can also make corrections to their map with a map share function and the sat-nav solution can be adapted to suit a variety of different size vehicles.

Ford

Ford drivers can now change the radio station, adjust the climate control and even control the vehicle satellite navigation system without taking their eyes off the road.

Ford’s Voice Control is easy and intuitive to use and all you need to do is remember a few simple commands like “phone” or “dial name” and the system then guides you step-by-step.

The software is designed to understand different speech types and regional accents as well and full details can be found under “Manual” at

www.ford-mobile-connectivity.com

Citroen DS3

A new Citroen DS3 car is being shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2009 and offers an attention grabbing design, highlighting the best of Citroen’s “creative technologie”. The DS3 takes a radical step on the usual compact urban vehicle and is bound to stand out from the crowd when launched in the UK.

Citroen DS3

It has a great road presence with its colour-contrasted “floating roof”, “shark fin” B-pillars and the sleek design of the front LED lights. Luxury material including leather and chrome are also in abundance, inside the car, with Thermo-coated components used throughout as well.

The roof is going to be available in four colours, namely Black, White, Blue and Red to contrast with the rest of the car and the wing mirrors and rubbing strips can also be colour coded. This new car will also offer other great ways to personalise it to your taste, both inside and out.

Power comes from five CO2-efficient Euro V power plants with two HDi diesel units and three BMW co-developed petrol engines. The two HDi diesels (90bhp and 110bhp) come with a DPFS (Diesel Particulate Filter System) and the three petrol engines (VTi 95, VTi 120 and 150) are fitted with 5 or 6 speed manual gearboxes. The diesel engines will offer you a CO2 figure of just 99g/km (90bhp) and 115g/km (110bhp) with the petrol engines ranging between 136g/km and 160g/km. 

DS3 is also available with Citroen’s latest in-car technology, for example the MyWay car satellite navigation system, which incorporates an audio and multi-media package including wide format colour screen, MP3 and WMA compatible CD player, plus Bluetooth hands free kit.

The DS3 will arrive in the Spring of 2010 and prices will be announced in the coming months.

Trafficmaster map

The August Bank Holiday is falling late in the month and heavy traffic congestion is forecasted by Trafficmaster, the UK’s leading vehicle information and satellite navigation and tracking company, for this coming weekend. They are predicting around a 30% increase in traffic on popular holiday routes on Friday the 21st August 2009.

Many schools are starting their Autumn term during the first week in September so many people will probably see this as a last chance to get a holiday in for all the family, especially if the weather is good. There are several festivals on over the weekend, for example the V-Festivals in Shropshire, the Notting Hill Carnival, Blackpool illuminations switch-on, air festivals at Bournemouth, Shoreham and Old Warden (Bedforshire) and of course the football season is well underway. 

Trafficmaster is a partner of Comparecontrachire.com and on the Home Page is a link to their live road UK traffic map. This shows all the road congestion points throughout the UK and you can zoom in or out to your particular area. This traffic map is updated every few minutes or so and we recommend you use this if you are setting off this weekend , so you can plan ahead and avoid the hotspots.

Top hotspots predicted by Trafficmaster are as follows

The UK’s leader in real time traffic information, Trafficmaster, has launched a Digital Broadcast Service in partnership with Digital One. Digital One is the world’s largest digital radio network operator.

The combination of Trafficmaster’s real time traffic information which covers 95% of the UK’s motorways and trunk roads and advanced DAB tachnology, will enable their navigation devices to receive even more detailed road and traffic data.

Trafficmaster’s Digital Traffic Brodcast will compliment the existing range of channels which include: RDS,TMC & XML. Traffic data will also be used in the Trafficmaster Smartnav system.