Request ID: FOI-1134-2122 Date published: 22 September 2021
You asked
Please can you inform me as to what use is made of the information gathered by the unit. A member of your staff told me that speed was part. Since we have a 20mph limit which is exceeded every day what is being done to ensure that limit is adhered to by all users.
Traffic Control Unit os 120 Argyle Road, London W13 8EL.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-1134-2122
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 August 2021, asking for information about an Automatic Traffic Counter on Argyle Road.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked:
Please can you inform me as to what use is made of the information gathered by the unit.
The unit that you refer to is a TfL owned Automatic Traffic Counter (ref ATC 65). The counter uses induction loop technology below the road surface to record vehicles passing over the loops. We have over 300 of these across London and they are used to measure vehicle flow at an individual site level as well as for strategic analysis of pan London traffic flows. Depending on the set up of the site some of the ATCs do also record speed – this counter is one of them. However this is not the primary function of the counter and is not routinely used for speed analysis. It should be noted that this counter can only detect spot speeds or instantaneous speed at its location. It can’t inform about average mean speed over a distance of road, which would require another form of speed detection.
Since we have a 20mph limit which is exceeded every day what is being done to ensure that limit is adhered to by all users.
This question should be directed to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as they choose where and when to enforce as part of their control strategy.
Enforcement would depend on whether there is a safety camera nearby to capture speed activations, on-street transport policing enforcement (i.e. Police officers with speed guns), or Borough requests for speed enforcement.
To date there have been no requests for enforcement at Argyle Road.
If you’d like to make a complaint about speeding please report it through the MPS webpage.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Eva Hextall FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
