NRK Trafikk – one of the most widely used sources of traffic information in Norway – is now being switched off. This service has been a regular companion on many journeys, especially during holidays and rush hour. It is now gone from the DAB network.
Many drivers have greatly benefited from NRK Trafikk. Now NRK is shutting down the service.
– The traffic service NRK Trafikk on DAB is disappearing. There will no longer be a dedicated editorial team working to monitor and report traffic news on the radio, regional editor Nareas Sae-Khow in NRK region tells TV2 Broom.
The closure of the service is a matter of internal priorities at NRK. But for road users it means one thing: fewer independent and central sources of real-time traffic information.
Many drivers today use map and navigation apps, in-car traffic systems, and alert services. But it also raises a question: Who takes responsibility for the whole, for community information, for what is not ad-funded, and for what is about more than just getting there as quickly as possible?
When a public and editorial service disappears, more of the responsibility is left to individual actors and communities.
Notifications from Safedrive become even more important now that NRK Trafikk is disappearing.
Losing a source means we have to trust each other more. Perhaps it is precisely now that we need to remember how valuable it is to share information – not just for our own sake, but for everyone we meet along the way.
Today, it is often fellow road users who are the first to report. Whether it is about obstacles or moose in the roadway, stationary vehicles or checkpoints, sharing happens in apps, in Safedriven or by flashing the light. It is a community that works when we use it correctly.
The fact that NRK Trafikk is being shut down at a time when alert services have been under pressure has led several of us to question what kind of information motorists will have access to in the future.
Fortunately, the government chose not to submit a proposal to ban inspection notifications before the deadline expired. This means that the service and the community that uses Safedrive can continue.
What happens next will be up to the new Storting and a possible new government after the elections this fall.
We will continue as before, and Safedrive will continue to do what we have always done: Contribute to increased attention in traffic, safer roads, and smarter notifications, together with you.
