I strongly object to it because a) it caused traffic chaos b) its a complete waste of time and c) the intimidating way in which is was done.

Remember, this was for a poxy survey not some kind of terrorist threat!

How would you recommend they get the inofrmation they need?

Why do they need to collect this information? A main road is busy in the morning and evening because.....its rush hour. Why are people driving at those times?....because they have to go to work. Not exactly rocket science and I've been through a survey before so I know what they ask.

And if the dimwits need to collect this to justify their own jobs, then a couple of cameras would have counted cars.

No traffic survey is ever intended to help a motorist, its just a way of finding out how much more they can extract from them.

Why do they need to collect it? So new roads cane be proposed and improving roads can be palnned. They need to know where you have come from and where you are trying to get to.

Why are they driving? To get to work. Some will, some won't. Many will be off taking kids to school. If they know where a lot of people are going better routes can be devised.

So - how will they know that without asking? I ask again!

It's very difficult to understand the logic of some people. Yes its inconveneient for one evening, but look at why it may be being done.

The roads are busy because a lot of people are using them! People moan that there are traffic queues.

There are ways of reducing road use:

(i) It gets so bad individuals decide not to drive during busy periods.

(ii) Price people off them to force them not to drive during busy periods.

(iii) Provide new roads to relieve the pressure

Most people would opt for (iii). So with a very limited Central Government budget being offered to local authorities who have to compete for the money how would you decide where to build roads?

First step is to find out as much as you can about traffic patterns. Cameras and electronic data will have been used - rubber road strips, video cameras etc etc. These are fine for counting vehicles, vehicle speeds etc, but they cannot provide information on departure and destination point, times per week someone uses the road etc etc.

This time is ideal as the roads are at their busiest.

Do the survey at quiet times and all you get are people going to the supermarket or delivering goods, taxis etc. This gives a skewed result pattern and suggests the roads are never busy, so a new road isn't needed.

Do it at busy times and you demonstarte the road is busy! You also get a lot of drivers who use the road at the same time every day. It is therefore useful information to plan where a relief road should go.

By not answering you are cutting your nose to spite your face as wihtout data any bid for funding for a new road will ultimately fail.

You can therefore look forward in a few years time to having the queues experienced during survey time all the time.

Edited by daveyjp on 05/11/2015 at 14:26

Yes traffic census are a complete waste of time, proof being they result in things like the A14/M1/M6 junction where a motorway running into a dual carriageway went down to a single lane with a set of lights either side, a lunatic could have come up with a better design than that..

Not sure what a clumsy design of M'way junction has to do with the principle of traffic censuses, GB - unless you happen to know of a direct link?

Poor research -> poorly-informed council officials/councillors = poor choice or road project design. They rarely listen to the highway engineers (I know a good number who regularly [proverbially] tear their hair out over being over-ruled by council officials and especially politicians), otherwise we wouldn't have so many bottlenecks and poorly designed junctions.

I have just recently found out the person in the council responsible for some of the recent poorly designed road systems doesn't even drive. Why am I not surprised.

I think its a pre-requisite in today's left-leaning, politically-correct world of councils and the civil service. I bet stating you drive/have a car is a black mark on your CV as far as they are concerned. Sort of like 'Dr' Vince Cable being the (anti) Business Secretary.

I now actively \void working for employers who predominantly work in the public sector because the idiots (clients) who they work for mostly ignore the opinions of professionals and do their own thing for purely political reasons. There needs to be a clear out of these people if we as a nation are to stand any chance in getting public services (and a transport system/road network in particular) that actually work for the public good.

I have just recently found out the person in the council responsible for some of the recent poorly designed road systems doesn't even drive. Why am I not surprised.

Why don't you get yourself elected and do something about it?

I have just recently found out the person in the council responsible for some of the recent poorly designed road systems doesn't even drive. Why am I not surprised.

Why don't you get yourself elected and do something about it?

Because in Durham you have to be an ex-miner and Labour to get in.

I agree, but being a politician at local level doesn't always work either - its the people who 'work' (I say the term loosely, as many really are there solely for their own benefit and do very little useful 'work') for the councils (employees) who are in the real positions of power (and who are likely the ones organising the 'surveys'), and they are very hard to shift - oh yes, one or two can be sacked, pensioned off or transferred, but all of them? No. Councillors don't have the balls (risk of losing their seat and cushy perks) or the stamina (it would take a long time, money [court cases and strikes] and effort [stress]) to really take on the real establishment (the Civil Service [Sir Humphrey & Co.]) who run the show at local/national level. Nobody wants the hassle.

Why does someone have to drive to plan roads. If they are qualified at what they do where is the issue.

Or does this website wish to start a personal vendetta against one individual who one poster does not like for some reason.

This is turning into a Moaner's Column - no-one except the writers know how to do their jobs, and they have convenient reasons why they don't take over (may be a good thing). Give us a bit of a rest, chaps ....

Ok - so the people who think this is just a moaners column think it is acceptable to cause absolute traffic chaos for 5 working days? (its still going on today)

If you think thats correct, and acceptable I'm obviously on the wrong forum as I think its an utter disgrace to deliberately cause problems like this - for a completely unfounded reason.

And yes - if you're responsible for major road systems you should at least have some knowledge of how they are used in the real world. I wasn't having a dig at the specific person - more the fact that someone who has never driven a car cannot empathise with commuters.

Since when did census work do anything regarding infrastructure?

As for decorating your home - what a pointless comparision - unless when you decorate your home you inconvenience the whole of your street whilst doing it.

So you still think that the staff responsible for road maintenance deliberately plan the work to ensure maximum chaos. What an odd world you must live in.

And what evidence have you got that the planner has never driven.

Alan posted on Tuesday that the planner does not drive.

I also believe from the local road 'improvements' that our council actively discourages car use, hoping to drive everyone onto buses and pedal cycles.

The tonnage of tarmac they used creating damaging humps could have filled the thousands of potholes, but that would have made traffic flow better.

So you still think that the staff responsible for road maintenance deliberately plan the work to ensure maximum chaos. What an odd world you must live in.

Yes.

In Bristol it's definately the case that many road junctions have been narrowed. Previously there was room for traffic turning left and right to queue in two separate lanes. So the excellent people in Bristol City council decide the best thing to do to reduce pollution is to narrow the road at the junction so that there is now only one lane. Guess what? The traffic queue is now longer and it takes several changes of lights to get through the junction.

I am no conspiracy theorist but I do truly believe this has been done in an effort to discourage people using cars on the roads. Presumably we should all jump on the buses and trains (or bikes if you listen to the complete nutter of a mayor we have). Well, there is no point - the buses get stuck in the (now worse) traffic congestion. Aside from the fact I don't work in Bristol I wouldn't use them myself - too expensive, dirty, full of people with colds and bugs and not at all convenient. Trains are better but not much use if you don't live within a reasonable distance of a station.

I know that we can't just go on adding more and more cars to the ever busy roads but the solution isn't to make road design so poor that congestion increases even more as a result.

Can't wait for the anticipated increase in the UK popultion over the next couple of decades.

Rant over.