Surrey County Council is using connected-vehicle data to measure traffic speeds at 1,339 locations under its Speed Management Plan.
The system, provided by Compass IoT, allows the council to request speed information without installing and collecting physical radar equipment or automatic traffic counters (ATCs) at each site.
Data mapped to road segments
Surrey supplies the coordinates for each survey location, which are converted using artificial intelligence into mapped road segments. Data from vehicles that have travelled along those segments is then used to calculate average and 85th percentile speeds.
Unlike a single-point measurement, the approach covers the full road segment and can show how speeds vary along the route. It also enables recurring analysis, giving the council a way to monitor changes over time rather than relying only on periodic surveys.
Compass IoT said conventional surveys could take up to three weeks per site and cost between £500 and £1,500. The time and expense limited how often Surrey could assess speeds and act on the results.
Matt Walsh, Surrey County Council’s speed management and camera enforcement team leader, said: “Now we don’t need to wait weeks to get speeds for our roads. This new dataset is available instantly, and replaces the need for traditional speed surveys; it allows us to make faster and more informed decisions.”
Before adopting the data source, Surrey compared its results with the survey methods already in use. Compass IoT said the connected-vehicle speeds aligned with ATC measurements and were more accurate than speeds recorded using radar.