Initially conceived with winter in mind, a more than two-year-old New Jersey Department of Transportation motorist alert system is in place, but authorities say it has only needed to be used once in its history so far.
That was for the remainder of Hurricane Ida, which swept through the state on Sept. 1. NJDOT spokesman Steve Schapiro said “511NJConnect” worked as expected at the time, but is still something the department would like to avoid implementing if possible.
These alerts, Schapiro said, use geofencing technology to identify drivers in close proximity to a prolonged and unexpected closure on one of New Jersey’s highways.
From there, through their mobile texting providers, drivers can decide whether to approve additional updates on the situation.
“They choose to receive those alerts or not after the first one, so they don’t have to choose if they don’t want to,” Schapiro said. “Once the incident is resolved, anyone who chose to participate, the alerts will be automatically canceled and any of their data will be deleted, so we do not save any of that information.”
Although 511NJConnect was first announced in December 2019 in anticipation of a snowy season, Schapiro said Ida indicated that it can be a successful tool in scenarios other than winter weather, including major accidents.
However, it is not intended to alert or assist in isolated instances of, for example, a driver leaving the road in a snowdrift.
Its main goals are to be proactive and preventive, according to Schapiro.
“This is a bigger incident where we have a road that, for some reason, part of it is closed, either because of the winter weather or because of the flooding,” he said.
511NJConnect is also not intended to replace 911, Schapiro said. If a driver has a medical emergency or some other type of emergency behind the wheel, 911 should still be called.
But the system provides a way for motorists to communicate with NJDOT, to help the agency and others refine the information being released and enact an appropriate response.
“People can identify some problems there, and it gives first responders a much better and broader picture of the incident and what is happening,” Schapiro said.
Patrick Lavery is the evening news anchor for New Jersey 101.5. FOLLOW on Twitter @ plavery1015 or email patrick.lavery@townsquaremedia.com.
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