The County has launched a feed from the Catawba County 911 Center of the information on calls reported in Catawba County regarding traffic incidents. The feed shows the type of incident reported, such as a vehicle accident, stranded motorist or vehicle fire, and gives the location of the incident. Only traffic related incidents are reported through this feed.

“We’re providing this information as a service,” said Terry Bledsoe, Catawba County’s Chief Information Officer. “Many people are using Twitter to communicate and receive information and numerous cell phones have this capability. Providing traffic information is an effective new way to inform the public of possible hazards and delays along their intended route, and we hope will alert them to take alternate routes or prepare to safely navigate through the area where an incident has occurred.”

Anyone who has a Twitter account may simply go to http://twitter.com/catawba911 and select “Follow”. Those who do not have a Twitter account may sign up for an account, free of charge, at http://twitter.com/.

For those who prefer not to open a Twitter account, an RSS feed is available with the same traffic incident information at http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/60704763.rss, and may be accessed by most RSS readers.