Highway department: Benevolent Big Bro'
State officials say they’ll be less secretive next time they set out to survey Texas drivers about travel habits.
About 200 people statewide have called a hotline to complain or express concern about receiving a survey in the mail after their license plates were photographed on a highway. "We’ve learned our lesson," Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Gabriela Garcia said. "We should have done more to alert them ahead of time."
Many North Texans may get a survey in the mail this week. On Sept. 12-13, cameras were mounted on orange barrels along Interstate 35W north of Hillsboro and Interstate 20 east of Weatherford.
Statewide, surveys have been mailed to 150,000 motorists whose plates were photographed along the I-35 corridor. Participants are asked questions such as where they live, where they were going and how many people were in the car. So far, 3,000 people have returned the form.
Alliance Transportation Group was hired for $782,000 to conduct the survey. The goal is to help planners understand travel patterns and reduce congestion.
Traffic surveys are nothing new, but the use of cameras is a twist. In the past, the agency hired people to park along the right-of-way and jot down plate numbers of passing cars.
In the future, Garcia said, the agency may publicize the survey ahead of time and place signs on the road letting motorists know they’re on candid camera.
Don’t want to take part in the survey? Simply throw it away.
Photo: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
$782,000 for suveys, $9 million for TV ads to sell the public on tollways... you sure could have fooled me that TxDOT is broke. If I have ever seen a state agency that needs rebuilding from the ground up, this is it.
Posted by: RC in Frisco | October 10, 2007 at 02:08 PM
What a waste of $782,000 dollars. By the time the data is processed and analyzed, traffic patterns will have changed and their proposed infrastructure upgrades will be obsolete. At which point, another $782,000 survey will have to be conducted just to produce exactly the same results.
Posted by: Tim | October 10, 2007 at 03:05 PM