What is a Speed Study?

A speed study is an analysis of the speeds at which vehicles are traveling on a particular road or section of road. This type of study is typically conducted by local or state transportation agencies in order to identify areas where speeding is a problem and to develop strategies for addressing the issue. Speed studies can be used to assess the effectiveness of speed limit enforcement, engineering solutions (such as speed bumps), and public education campaigns.

One of the traditional methods for conducting a speed study is to use a radar gun to measure the speeds of passing vehicles, but this requires the time of personnel and can be restrictive in duration and sample size. Due to our cameras' excellent video quality and frame rates, we are able to determine the speed of recorded vehicles using the locations of objects on-screen. This eliminates the need for setting up tubes, largely reducing the costs and increasing safety.

As an example, let's say you want to know how fast traffic is going on a road segment. You could set up a pair of tubes across the street with all the labor and liability that entails, or we could simply set up one of our cameras pointing in the same direction. Our software would then be able to analyze the video footage and give you an accurate speed reading. This information can then be used to generate a "speed distribution" graph, which shows the range of speeds at which vehicles are traveling. This system has many applications beyond just speeding cars; it can be used to monitor traffic flow, optimize public transportation routes, and much more.

Speed studies are important tools for transportation planners and engineers, as they can help identify areas where speeding is a problem and where safety improvements are needed. Speed studies can also be used to evaluate the effectiveness of various countermeasures (such as speed limit signs and speed bumps) after they have been implemented.