Access to raw data concerning motorway onramp signals
Tom Atkinson made this Official Information request to New Zealand Transport Agency
The request was refused by New Zealand Transport Agency.
From: Tom Atkinson
Dear New Zealand Transport Agency,
in regards to onramp signals in both directions where possible:
420 ESMONDE ROAD
435 GREAT SOUTH ROAD / PENROSE
424D UNION ST / CENTRAL MOTORWAY JUNCTION
424C WELLINGTON ST / CENTRAL MOTORWAY JUNCTION
I would like to have access to raw data concerning motorway onramp signals sufficient to:
- prove or disprove the hypothesis that they assist in improvement highway flows
- use with other data I will source independantly, prove or disprove the hypothesis that they assist in reducing C02 emitted by vehicles
- understand the conditions that trigger them to activated and deactivate each day
- be multi-month data sets ideally with control data from my proposed 5 week test
- understand if this activation is correlated to anything or just put on a timer or set by humans
- have access to activation sensor data / timing data schedule data also to correlate
- be able to count total traffic flows from the data set itself
- be in a format I can open eg, CSV, XLS, SQL, JSON, TXT etc.
- be able to create my own per-minute summaries of traffic flows from the data set, eg "between 2:57pm and 2:58pm the signal was not active and 23 cars went through" etc.
- if you can please assist by helping to create fresh control data using time correlation: manually disabling **all the mentioned signals weeklong** then a week of space then off then on then off then back to the status quo meaning on, taking 5 weeks ultimately from start to finish.
- I can use data from the weeks with the signals disabled to discover what happens to the motorways precisely
- As much as I dislike the signals, perhaps the ensuing Chaos would reenforce they are a good idea to myself and others? Or perhaps the traffic will be so much greatly improved by the "stochastic flow" that we **come to our senses** and disable them permanently?
It is my belief that a more stochastic driving style is beneficial to increasing traffic flows during congestion, and that the signals are only of use if alternative routes are available such as not on the north shore of Auckland.
Yours faithfully,
Tom Atkinson
From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
Dear Tom
This email acknowledges your below request for information made under the
Official Information Act 1982.
Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate section of the
Transport Agency for response. They will contact you if they require
clarification of your request, more time to respond, or if your request
has been transferred to another organisation to respond to. Unless more
time is required, the Transport Agency will send a response to you within
20 working days of receiving your request – in this instance on or before
19 June 2018.
If you would like to discuss your request with the Transport Agency,
please contact us by email at [1][email address].
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[2]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
[3]cid:image002.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [4]cid:image003.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [5]cid:image004.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
Dear New Zealand Transport Agency,
in regards to onramp signals in both directions where possible:
420 ESMONDE ROAD
435 GREAT SOUTH ROAD / PENROSE
424D UNION ST / CENTRAL MOTORWAY JUNCTION 424C WELLINGTON ST / CENTRAL
MOTORWAY JUNCTION
I would like to have access to raw data concerning motorway onramp signals
sufficient to:
- prove or disprove the hypothesis that they assist in improvement highway
flows
- use with other data I will source independantly, prove or disprove the
hypothesis that they assist in reducing C02 emitted by vehicles
- understand the conditions that trigger them to activated and deactivate
each day
- be multi-month data sets ideally with control data from my proposed 5
week test
- understand if this activation is correlated to anything or just put on a
timer or set by humans
- have access to activation sensor data / timing data schedule data also
to correlate
- be able to count total traffic flows from the data set itself
- be in a format I can open eg, CSV, XLS, SQL, JSON, TXT etc.
- be able to create my own per-minute summaries of traffic flows from the
data set, eg "between 2:57pm and 2:58pm the signal was not active and 23
cars went through" etc.
- if you can please assist by helping to create fresh control data using
time correlation: manually disabling **all the mentioned signals
weeklong** then a week of space then off then on then off then back to the
status quo meaning on, taking 5 weeks ultimately from start to finish.
- I can use data from the weeks with the signals disabled to discover what
happens to the motorways precisely
- As much as I dislike the signals, perhaps the ensuing Chaos would
reenforce they are a good idea to myself and others? Or perhaps the
traffic will be so much greatly improved by the "stochastic flow" that we
**come to our senses** and disable them permanently?
It is my belief that a more stochastic driving style is beneficial to
increasing traffic flows during congestion, and that the signals are only
of use if alternative routes are available such as not on the north shore
of Auckland.
Yours faithfully,
Tom Atkinson
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From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
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Dear Tom
Please find attached a letter advising of an extension to your request for
information under the Official Information Act 1982 of 21 May 2018.
A response will now be sent to you on or before 17 July 2018.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [3]cid:image003.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [4]cid:image004.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[5]www.nzta.govt.nz
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privilege is not waived because you have read this email.
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From: Official Correspondence
New Zealand Transport Agency
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Dear Tom
Please find attached the response to your request of 21 May 2018 for
information under the Official Information Act 1982.
Regards
_________ _____________________________________________
Ministerial Services
Governance, Stakeholders and Communications
50 Victoria Street, Private Bag 6995, Wellington 6141, New Zealand
_________ _____________________________________________
[1]cid:image001.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
[2]cid:image002.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [3]cid:image003.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10 [4]cid:image004.jpg@01CF322A.4C836B10
Find the latest transport news, information, and advice on our website:
[5]www.nzta.govt.nz
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This email is only intended to be read by the named recipient. It may
contain information which is confidential, proprietary or the subject of
legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient you must delete
this email and may not use any information contained in it. Legal
privilege is not waived because you have read this email.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Alex Harris left an annotation ()
The response to this followup request will be useful if you want to take this to the Ombudsman. 11.3 (d) of the user agreement allows release of confidential information as required by law, so there's a strong argument that they are not in fact barred from releasing it
https://fyi.org.nz/request/9404-auckland...
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Mark Hanna left an annotation ()
I know it's been a few months now, but I'd suggest you might try complaining to the Ombudsman about this refusal if you haven't already.
Information held by independent contractors, in their capacity as a contractor to a government agency, is considered to be held by that agency. See Section 2(5) of the OIA:
"Any information held by an independent contractor engaged by any department or Minister of the Crown or organisation in his capacity as such contractor shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be held by the department or Minister of the Crown or organisation."
I am not a lawyer, but I do not think NZTA is justified in denying your request because the information has been provided to them by an independent contractor under an obligation of confidence. So long as the information is held by the contractor in their capacity as a contractor to NZTA, as I think would certainly be the case here, then it is already official information. The contractor clearly cannot supply itself with information under an obligation of confidence, so Section 9(2)(ba)(i) of the OIA cannot apply to it.
Link to this