Census Point?

Nick1881

Nick1881

Nick1881

Soldato
Joined
4 Feb 2007
Posts
9,899
Location
Nuneaton, UK
I meant to post this yesterday but forgot. I was driving to work in the morning, came off the M69 onto the A46 and the traffic was crazy, queueing back onto the M69 down the 46. I thought this was odd as I was quite a bit earlier than usual and there isn't normally traffic there.

The I saw signs saying Census Point, after a long delay and a lane closure, I passed a lay-by where they were stopping random people :confused:

Has anyone been stopped by one of these? A guy at work said they ask you where you are going and if you really need to drive? I would have got pretty angry if they stopped me after the long delay.
 
Never heard of that before. If I didn't think it would get me into trouble I would be tempted to ask, what has it got to do with you?

Was it the police or some private army of government hired busy bodies?
 
There were police in attendance it seemed, then possibly non-police with clip boards. I did wonder if the police were there for when it kicked off.
 
These have been done for decades, seen a few but never been stopped. They are used to assist in council planning processes etc.

And to highlight self entitled moaners :D
 
[TW]Fox;26593172 said:
Perhaps they should just guess when doing future transport planning, then you could come on the internet and rage about the badly planned results :D
Click to expand...

You know they will do a rubbish job anyway. Most of the changes I have seen they make things worse, adding lights where they aren't needed etc.
 
Nick1881 said:
You know they will do a rubbish job anyway. Most of the changes I have seen they make things worse, adding lights where they aren't needed etc.
Click to expand...

Really? Most...?

MOST of the changes I've observed over the couple of decades I've been driving have improved things greatly. SOME have made things a bit worse, and a very few have been downright daft.
 
You've clearly never been to Penzance and other parts of Cornwall then. The road planning down here would have been better if done by a six year old.

Another waste of money if you ask me.

What they plan to do is to make it so expensive and difficult to own a car and drive that it becomes something only available to the 1% who can afford it, forcing the rest of us plebs and serfs to pay extortionate fares for public transport.
 
I've seen these before

what confuses me is the people you see in fluorescent yellow jackets in huge gangs on motorway flyovers seemingly counting cars.

Surely ANPR could do this better if they want to know how many cars are using it ?
 
As regards the legal aspects of stopping for a traffic census - you are required to stop when directed to do so by a police officer but you are not required to answer any questions by the census takers.
 
Road side interviews are used to inform the modelling and business case of major highways schemes (new motorway junctions/ by-passes).

Usually the police are there to stop traffic, but you don't have to answer the questions (which usually take less than 1 min). They aren't designed to promote anti car schemes, quite the opposite in fact!
 
I've been stopped a couple of times, but in France, not the U.K. I remember one question: "And how long is your trip going to be?" "About 4000km, all told." And we both had a good laugh.

The best one, though is one I read somewhere. Sir Harry Secombe was stopped for a census and one of the questions was the purpose of his trip. Sir Harry answered, "To buy a pork pie." This was, of course, just outside Melton Mowbray.
 
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