HC Deb 02 February 1987 vol 109 c526W
Mr. Steen

asked the Secretary of State for Transport (1) what has been learnt from the car count on the Modbury to Bigbury road since the count started in September 1982; and to what uses the information so far gained has been put;

(2) what steps he is planning to take to improve or alter the Modbury to Bigbury road as a result of information gained since the car count there began in September 1982.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

Data from the Modbury to Bigbury road site indicate an average flow of 1,900 vehicles per day in 1985, of which some 60 were heavy lorries. This represents an increase of some 10 per cent. since 1982, less than the growth of over 20 per cent. recorded for rural class B roads generally. These data are obtained for the compilation of national statistics. I know of no plans to change the road as a result of their collection.

Data from this site, together with similar data from other randomly selected core census sites, are used to asses traffic trends for different types of vehicle over the whole country. The principle uses of this information are:

  1. (i) providing traffic forecasts for national and local roads planning,
  2. (ii) determining traffic management and maintenance needs, in particular the circulation of road track costs and grant-related expenditure, and
  3. (iii) assessing road accident trends and road safety priorities, through the calculation of accident rates.

Maintaining regular monitoring throughout the year at core census sites avoids the need for extensive traffic counting at a large number of places on the road system. Seasonal profiles obtained from the core census enable short period counts to be converted into estimates of total flow throughout the year.