Source of Information
The network covered by the road conditions information system is divided into about 375 segments (this number may vary from one year to another). The Ministère assigned one person per segment. The person in charge must check the road conditions on that segment and report them using the provincial road condition management system. As soon as data is received, it is transmitted to the central computer system, which updates the information on Québec 511 within eight minutes. The data is made available to the media, which relay the information.
Roads Covered
For obvious organizational reasons, and to be able to provide reliable, up-to-date information, the Ministère decided to cover through roads only, since the road conditions information service is used mainly by people travelling outside their region. Restricting the number of roads is necessary if we want to meet our objectives of providing accurate and quality information using the monitoring process in place. In the case of two parallel roads, road conditions information for the most frequently used road is provided, since these conditions are usually similar to the other road.
Season
Information on winter road conditions is posted continuously from October 15 to April 15. Outside of that period, only road conditions other than the association of "bare" road and "good" or "reduced" visibility are posted.
