Traffic Monitoring

The council has a number of tools at its disposal which it uses to monitor information about the use of the boroughs roads;

Accident Data

The council has access to data based on reported injury accidents which are reported via the Greater Manchester Police. This is quantifiable data that is used by the authority and the police in order to identify where there are clusters of accidents or accidents trends where engineering intervention may be beneficial. The authority is aware that this data does not include information regarding ‘damage only’ or ‘near misses’ and does not reflect local knowledge where residents may feel that ‘there is an accident waiting to happen’, however, with a nationwide and local desire to reduce the incidents of injury accidents and improve road safety and limited funding with which to do this, the council must focus its resources on areas where there are existing problems first. Many of the enquiries received by the council regarding concerns over road safety are based on a perception of a problem or poor driver attitude for which the council has limited methods with which to make improvements.

The following links are to the ‘Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) – reported road accidents’ web page and the interactive map, which shows all reported injury accidents and locations within Tameside and Greater Manchester.

The information given on the interactive map is only basic information. Because of the sensitive nature of some accidents data, certain fields may lead to the individuals involved being identified. Such data could contravene the Data Protection Act and is considered exempt under the Freedom of Information Act and as such is omitted from the site.

Cameras

A network of Watchman cameras, vehicle actuated boards and a mobile traffic monitoring camera have been introduced throughout the Borough to encourage road users to drive more slowly thereby helping the Council to lower the number of collisions occurring on Tameside's roads.

Vehicle actuated boards display a message to road users, that are travelling over the speed limit, there are several different messages which boards within the borough display including flashing reminders of the speed limit, the drivers current speed, ‘slow down’. Some of the boards also record vehicles speeds that enable traffic engineers to build up speed profiles of the roads covered. This enables the Council to identify speed hotspots and take the necessary action.

Watchman cameras are used as a speeding deterrent and do record traffic data, they are not however, enforcement cameras. Tameside council does not have the powers to enforce speeding offences, this function is undertaken by the police.

Safety cameras (enforcement cameras) are in use within Tameside to enforce both speeding and traffic light offences. These are targeted at locations with a historically poor road safety record, with the aim of reducing road casualties in the future. Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership (www.drivesafe.o rg.uk ) manages the safety cameras across Greater Manchester. Further information regarding what they do and specific information about safety cameras can be found via their website.