Scottish Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop has ordered a review of the country’s motorway VMS network after claims that irrelevant messages are being displayed on gantries.
Scottish Conservative MSP Liz Smith has raised the issue repeatedly at Holyrood and says the problem is still occurring on both the M90 and M9 motorways, according to the Scottish Daily Express.
She said: “There are still issues with gantry signs that are not time sensitive – indeed, I have seen that for myself – and about information being displayed about congestion or queues ahead when there are no such things. That is unhelpful to drivers, who have to make a decision about which roads they are going to take.”
The frustrated Tory said she had first brought it up with Humza Yousaf when he was Transport Secretary in 2017 and then again with the current incumbent Fiona Hyslop in June 2023.
Ms Hyslop said: “It is important that dynamic messaging is timely and accurate, because driver frustration, whether it be Ms Smith’s or that of others, should be avoided. Thousands of messages are displayed and removed daily in response to changing and dynamic situations.”
The Cabinet Secretary – who has the use of a taxpayer-funded, chauffeur-driven car to commute into Edinburgh – asked the Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP for specific occurrences of out-of-date signage. She said the messages supply “real-time information on Scotland’s trunk road and motorway network”.
However, Ms Hyslop added: “My officials have recently instructed Traffic Scotland to undertake further sample checks of sign setting and removal on the motorway network, including between Fife and Edinburgh. That process is on-going. Traffic Scotland welcomes reports, which are helpful, as any specific examples, particularly during weekdays, allow it to pinpoint the exact issues.”
There are 313 variable message signs on Scotland’s road network, including 56 on the M90, 48 on the M74, 25 on the M80, 21 on the M8 and 20 on the A9. These signs required 1,419 fault repairs between January 2021 and March 2025 – meaning the average sign had to be fixed 4.5 times in four years.
(Main pic: Transport Scotland)
