Skip to main content

SDR a vital tool in assessing speed concerns

UK company Traffic Technology has supplied Surrey County Council with its SDR (speed detection radar) above ground vehicle classifier as part of the Drive Smart campaign, a partnership initiative involving Surrey County Council and Surrey Police that targets anti-social driving. Speeding was highlighted as the issue of greatest concern to local residents so all eleven boroughs or districts in Surrey have been supplied with at least two SDRs.
March 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
UK company 561 Traffic Technology has supplied 4241 Surrey County Council with its SDR (speed detection radar) above ground vehicle classifier as part of the Drive Smart campaign, a partnership initiative involving Surrey County Council and Surrey Police that targets anti-social driving. Speeding was highlighted as the issue of greatest concern to local residents so all eleven boroughs or districts in Surrey have been supplied with at least two SDRs.

“The SDR is used as a vital tool to either prove or disprove a concern of speed,” said Michael Pritchard, casualty reduction officer for Spelthorne Borough. “Not only will it reveal if there is a speeding issue, but the data can be studied to discover the exact problem times, thus saving many hours at the side of the road and wasting time enforcing speed when there is merely a perceived problem.”

The Traffic Technology SDR uses the latest radar technology to accurately detect each vehicle passing the invisible sensor zone, and provides accurate count, classification and speed data for each direction of a bi-directional single carriageway. All the SDR units used by the county council have been upgraded with the latest Newcomm software which enables data to be downloaded via Bluetooth or GPRS to the online WebReporter software and output in a range of formats to suit their needs.

Data from the SDRs is shared with the council, which maintains a speed management plan for each area, and contains SDR data, both historic and current, for each road on the plan. These include roads where there is a history of fatal and serious injury accidents, roads where there are proven speed issues and roads where there is a pattern of damage only collisions. The data forms a valuable part of the plan especially when enforcement strategies are planned and permanent engineering measures are being considered.

“The SDR was designed to meet the need for accurate and reliable non-intrusive traffic monitoring,” says Richard Toomey, managing director of Traffic Technology. “As it needs no in road sensors, it is quick and easy to deploy for temporary speed monitoring applications.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS green light for two wheels
    January 19, 2023
    Cycling is increasingly promoted as a healthy and sustainable mode of transport. So, ask Ronald Jorna and Robin Kleine of Mobycon, what role should ITS play in stimulating active travel?
  • Video developments in automatic incident detection
    May 22, 2012
    David Crawford reviews technological progress with automatic incident detection Highway safety problems are likely to intensify given recent predictions of future traffic growth across the world. In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that currently over 30,000 deaths and 1.5 million injuries occur as the result of accidents on the nation’s roads each year. These figures will increase with the number of kilometres travelled each year in the US expected to gr
  • Traffic Technology retains West Berkshire data collection
    April 10, 2013
    Buckinghamshire-based Traffic Technology has successfully retained its traffic data collection contract with West Berkshire District Council. The company will carry out permanent traffic surveys from around thirty-three sites in West Berkshire, as well as ad hoc traffic and parking surveys, pedestrian crossing studies and journey time studies on behalf of the Council for the next two years, with an option to continue for a further two years. Data from parking surveys is used to inform future parking strateg
  • Cubic and SenSen Networks agree on video analytics
    September 9, 2014
    Cubic Transportation Systems has entered into a strategic alliance and licence agreement with Australia-based video analytics specialist SenSen Networks, enabling Cubic to distribute SenSen’s products and solutions that align with Cubic’s NextCity smart cities vision. The companies plan to deliver a range of solutions to the market, including automatic gate line monitoring in train stations and transport hubs using video analytics and intelligent video to increase commuter flow, detect health and safety