Independent Analysis of SBLN Survey Data Detects NO Evidence of Cross-Zone Traffic
Those pesky Southville 'rat runners' just don't appear to exist...
In our last post, South Bristolian Matt Sanders challenged Bristol City Council’s claim that traffic data shows residential streets in Southville are being cut through by a high volume of vehicles from outside the area.
The veracity of this claim is important for the Council: funding for ‘Liveable Neighbourhoods’ is dependent on the installation of ‘modal filters’ (physical barriers such as bollards and planters, or ANPR cameras) to prevent through traffic. If there is little or no through traffic, the interventions are unnecessary, and funding from the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) should be denied.
Matt refers to 94 complex spreadsheets that can be downloaded from the Council website containing this traffic data. Locating those that contain data generated from ANPR cameras in the area, he shows that they cannot possibly provide evidence for ‘rat running’ through Southville.
If BCC has data that proves its claim, it is not sharing it with the public.
Now a volunteer independent data analyst, Ali bin Shahid, has worked with Matt to complete a thorough analysis of the publicly available data.
He has confirmed Matt’s assertions.
According to BCC’s own available data, its claims have no basis in truth.
Here is Ali’s summary of his findings:
We analysed the data. All 94 spreadsheets.
The council deployed 25 ANPR cameras across South Bristol in June 2024. Not one was placed inside the Southville Zone. The only two cameras on the zone’s boundary — Camera 14 on Coronation Road and Camera 16 on North Street — recorded just 10-11 vehicles per day appearing at both locations.
That’s 0.07% of the traffic at those cameras.
And even those 11 vehicles cannot be confirmed as having driven through Southville. They may have used the perimeter roads. Without cameras inside the zone, it’s impossible to tell.
Where did the traffic actually go? 90% of vehicles at Camera 14 continued along Coronation Road to Clift House Road. 45% of Camera 16 traffic did the same. The dominant pattern is travel along the corridors, not through the residential streets.
Please take the time to read the full independent analysis, together with all charts, maps, and methodology, available to download here:
https://r3genesi5.github.io/bristol-southville-traffic-analysis/
Analysis by Ali Bin Shahid, with contributions from Matt Sanders.