Re: Cars are priority, but what about DAB?
That's not RDS. That's Traffic Programming, a feature of RDS.
RDS is the facility that displays station names rather than frequencies, and allows a station to be tracked across different frequencies. It can also deliver traffic information to a compatible satnav, silently.
TP is the interruption when there's a traffic announcement. There are supposedly fines for stations who misuse it - either triggering it early or leaving it switched on. It should only be used for the announcement itself, and I think they're allowed an announcement beforehand ("Here's the traffic news on Radio Titwaffle" or whatever). A friend worked in local radio and once forgot to turn the TP off, he was hauled over the coals with the suggestion being he'd cost the station thousands of pounds. Either that or he was a shit DJ and they wanted a reason to sack him.
TP can be disabled without turning RDS off.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
