The popular JCT Traffic Signals Symposium in Nottingham last month was more popular than ever, with more than 260 attendees, and over a third of them from the public sector or an industry association.
Exhibitors praised the value of the event, with Chris Kettell of TRL commenting that he “Can’t think of another traffic event that brings together all of the right people in the same place at the same time that are here with a common goal,” while smartmicro’s Peter Eccleson felt that “It’s the one event where we actually can write business, where we see the right people.”
The JCT Traffic Signals Symposium consists of a learned programme of technical, non-salesy papers, as well as a large exhibition and two nights of networking.
First-time exhibitor Eric Murugneux of Sensys called the gathering “The proper group of people we want to engage with,” and SWARCO UK Managing Director John Pickworth added that the event, “Has always been one of the one of the real pacemakers, in terms of getting that real drive to new ideas, new innovations, but in a controlled and managed way, which means we keep the standards high and we keep the industry knowledge growing.”
More than 70 of the delegates were from a total of 28 different local authorities, meaning those tasked with managing our network were able to learn about the latest ideas and innovations, while gathering expert knowledge from consultants and suppliers.
Department for Transport ITS Policy Lead Darren Capes praised the Symposium’s place in the industry calendar. “JCT is unique in focusing on the very detailed technical engineering skills and understanding of traffic signal control,” he explained. “It sits very well alongside the work that we do in the Department, with the Transport Technology Forum, which focuses on the sector at a more policy level, and deals with deals with learning around policy and information exchange. JCT, which is very much at the technical, detailed engineering level, is absolutely essential to have to sit alongside that.”
Meanwhile consultants said their clients will benefit from what was shared in the learned programme. “We’ll go back and have a knowledge share session, just to make sure that everybody is aware of what’s happening,” commented Rebecca Bollen of 4way Consulting and the Institute of Highway Engineers. “We can link back to any of the videos of the presentations, just to make sure that everybody’s got access to the information, and then we can use some best practices from some of other people’s examples,” while leading signals expert Mark Pleydell of PTC Consulting described it as: “The most important event of my year. I get to see a huge number of my clients, a huge number of my colleagues here, chance to catch up informally, away from the distractions of the everyday activities.”
Videos of the learned programme will be made available in November, thanks to the sponsorship of 4way Consulting, AGD Systems, PTV Group, Sensys Networks, smartmicro, Starling Technologies and TRL. You can find out about all these companies’ participation here.
After taking place in Nottingham for the last six in-person events, the next JCT Traffic Signals Symposium – the 30th to be held – will be at the Royal Armouries Conference Centre in Leeds from the 23 to 25 September 2025.
(Picture – JCT)
