Sky High Awarded Northern Ireland Vehicle Km of Travel Survey Three Year Contract
15 April 2008 11:42
Sky High Traffic Surveys have been awarded a three year contract by the Northern Ireland Roads Service to collect traffic data across the whole of the major road network in Northern Ireland. Sky High will use a combination of video and automatic traffic counting techniques to measure traffic flows at over 200 sites each year.
The Department for Regional Development will use the data as part of a new strategy to measure the amount of travel by road across the network. Mark Mattison, Managing Director of Sky High said he is delighted that Sky High can contribute its expertise in video and ATC surveys to the Directorate’s progressive approach to monitoring road traffic trends.
Roads Service is an Executive Agency within the Northern Ireland Department for Regional Development and as the sole road authority in Northern Ireland, it is responsible for just over 25,000 kilometres of public roads.
The Vehicle Kilometres of Travel (VKT) survey monitors travel by class of vehicle across the various types of road in Northern Ireland and is used by Roads Service to provide an indication of overall usage of the road network.
The information obtained is used in the development of transport policies, to assist in the allocation of maintenance funding and to some extent within the winter gritting schedules. It is also useful to many other government bodies and organisations for target setting and strategy monitoring purposes.
Prior to this new contract, the process employed by Roads Service for the gathering of data and calculation of VKT was based on a method established jointly by Roads Service and Central Statistics and Research Branch (CSRB) in 1991. The previous survey utilised permanent traffic classification and counting equipment to gather traffic information from 115 locations, selected to provide a sample of all route types across NI.
Roads Service are now adopting a new methodology to carry out the survey and calculate the VKT figure. As part of this, the road network has been divided into major roads – consisting of all motorways, 'A' class roads and 'B' class roads with a higher traffic flow, and minor roads – consisting of all other 'B' class roads, all 'C' class and all unclassified roads.
The work that will be undertaken by Sky High consists of a survey of around 600 links on the Major Road network over a three year period. There will also be a one off survey of various locations on the minor road network. Traffic information (bi-directional) on each link will be collected for a minimum of one complete period of twelve hours between 0700 and 1900 hrs on a weekday.
Sky High was established in May 1989 and has grown in this time to be one of the leading traffic survey and analysis specialists in the country. The company has UK offices in Leeds, London and Edinburgh employing around 50 full time staff and three offices in Australia. To compliment its core traffic survey business, Sky High also has specialist divisions dealing with Market Research (including a Computer Aided Telephone Interview Centre) and Data Entry contracts.
Sky High were the first company in the UK to introduce the use of video recording as a way of increasing the accuracy and completeness of traffic flow counts. Over the 15 years they have been providing the service they have developed robust, safe and reliable video camera systems and expanded the range of services to include automatic traffic counter systems, manual surveys, roadside interview surveys, GPS journey time surveys, car parking surveys, market research and all other types of data collection supported by and a streamlined, high quality approach to survey management, analysis and reporting.
Sky High takes the issue of quality control very seriously to the extent that they are ISO 9001:2000 accredited by Lloyds and employ a full time Quality Management System/Health and Safety manager.
For more information on this company:
Sky High Technology - High-Level Video, Automatic Traffic Counter and Manual Traffic Surveys
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