Small Back Room unveils Traffic Act website

A public information website aimed at simplifying the Traffic Management Act 2004, which comes into effect today, has been devised by London consultancy Small Back Room.

Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London – or Patrol – has been set up by The Joint Committee of Councils for England & Wales.

It outlines the consequences of the new legislation, and explains the process of challenging penalty charge notices under it.

Small Back Room managing director John Ruston explains that the consultancy was taken on board at the end of last year without a pitch, on the strength of an existing relationship with the committee.

‘Our brief was to establish a branded public information service provided by the 220 councils of England and Wales outside London, where people can search and get guidance on the new traffic regulations,’ he says.

Small Back Room has created the website, www.patrol-uk.info, and printed literature.

The greatest challenge of the project, according to Ruston, was to bring together a vast amount of information and present it in a coherent way that could be understood and accessed universally.

‘It was quite a challenge to tie up all the pieces, conceive it and write it from scratch. If you’re providing a public information website, when it goes live it has to be right,’ adds Ruston.

The visual language takes inspiration from road marks and is intended for use in headline copy.

According to Ruston, the arrows contained within the font indicate a directional process intended to communicate that the ‘information and destination’ process is flowing towards a conclusion.

The choice of orange as the colour for the font represents energy and vibrancy.

Councils in London, which come under a different jurisdiction, have not yet created a similar information service.