State giving traffic updates on Twitter

Twitter was just made for car accidents. Well, causing them, yes. But also for alerting drivers to them.

This afternoon the state Department of Transportation issued a press release announcing its new Twitter feeds for drivers. Ten Twitter feeds for different geographic areas and five for specific interstates alert drivers to accidents, construction and other problems. NC DOT's Web page listing the different Twitter feeds is http://www.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter/.

If it seems ironic that a state department responsible for road safety is sending drivers to Twitter, there is a thorough reminder in the release not to tweet and drive.

"Know before you go," Greer Beaty, the DOT's communications director intoned to me seriously on the phone.

Or this could be the perfect co-pilot's tool, I pointed out.

"I hadn't thought of that," she said.

Another thing the state hadn't thought of: Making sure Charlotte was listed on the directory. When the Web site was announced this afternoon, the state's largest city was nowhere to be found. The stream had been created, but somehow dropped off the page, Beaty said. It popped back up again a few moments later.