Mystery road survey

An Audlem Parish councillor was interested in what a mysterious looking vehicle was doing cruising Audlem's small estates yesterday.

The vehicle was labelled as Yotta. The Parish councillor asked the crew, who were working inside the vehicle with a laptop computer, if they had cameras and what were they doing. He was told, in effect, to mind his own business and no, they didn't have cameras.

While the vehicle in Audlem was smaller than the Votta one pictured, a quick glance at Yotta's website indicates the crew may not have been totally open. They are employed by councils and carry out surveys of roads and 'council assets'. As for cameras, this is what Yotta say:

"Our vehicles are fitted with a number of synchronised measurement devices such as laser profilers, accelerometers and cameras. Our SCANNER vehicles can accurately determine both the geometry and condition of the road surface.

"Additionally, our vehicles are equipped with high resolution forward-facing cameras giving a clear visual record of your network. This can be used to compare your results with the physical network conditions or simply as a visual aid for your Highway Engineers.

"The data we collect can be used to support and explain National Indicators (NI) and when used in conjunction with UKPMS can help you target expenditure for road repairs, define maintenance schemes and prioritise the order of work."

Plenty of jargon, yes, but would it have done any harm, when asked politely what was being surveyed, to give a straight answer to a perfectly legitimate question from a Parish Councillor?

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