Following a chase-up by Graham B (Bypass Steering Group), on the recent traffic survey, a reply was received from Phillip Waddington, Principal Engineer of Highway Safety:
“I would be able to provide you with the full data at a cost to yourself as per the Fees and Charges report for Kirklees Council. The data is currently £88 including VAT for each set of count information. There were 7 counts undertaken and shown on the summary sheet giving a total cost of £616. Please could you let me know if you wish to proceed with the request and I will speak to our traffic census team regarding the methods of payment. Kind regards Phill”.
David R, also on the Bypass Steering Group, commented:
"A summary of the data was sent free of charge. There are some rather worrying figures on this alone. [We discovered that the average of 419 HGV’s (7.8% of the overall traffic volume) and the average speed across all the counts (around 28 mph eastbound and 32 mph westbound) travelled eastbound towards the M1 (in 24 hrs), in contravention of the existing weight limit order.] Speeds and HGV numbers (although the latter is only shown as a percentage*). The full information must show a far worse picture with regard to traffic numbers in general, the number of HGVs on the narrow road, and excessive speeds by many. Surely, this data should be fully disclosed, without any cost. If not, why not? we ask.”
Here is a summary of the recent traffic measurements carried out.
Map with higher resolution text (to download and magnify)
We have been informed that to obtain full details from Highways would cost us £88 per set, so £616 for all 7 sets! he mean averages are obviously impacted upon by slow moving peak time traffic, whilst having 15% shown as exceeding over 37 mph in places is very worrying.
*The 85th percentile as a tool for improving roads and streets.
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