Jam for Breakfast

So here's the thing. I've been stuck in an incredible traffic jam yesterday and today which has appeared as if by magic with no obvious cause, the indicator boards on the A12 are telling me about something that is old news about the Blackwall tunnel tidal flow and the radio reports tell me that there is heavy traffic between Gants Hill and Redbridge - not the road I'm stuck on which is between Gants Hill and Ilford and is so slow that I understand that the first car in the queue is a Model 'T' Ford. I eventually get to work by using all those little side turnings that no-one else seems to use and find out that a road around the back of Ilford is closed for repair (or more likely the installation of the incredibly ill-named traffic calming measures) but no-one has bothered to report the fact. So why bother having traffic reports every twenty minutes when they are clearly inadequate?