It mightn’t exactly be a case of ‘Big Brother is watching you’, but video cameras dotted on poles around Galway City over recent weeks are now doing a transport survey across the urban area.

The cameras have been ‘a curiosity’ for many people but they are part of an information gathering process on the usage of the city’s roads by motorists, lorries, vans, buses, pedestrians and cyclists.

According to Galway City Council, the traffic, cycle and pedestrian surveys have been going on for the past ten years or so and feed into the transport planning strategy for the city.

A spokesperson for Galway City Council explained that all data gathered on the various transport movements across the urban area complied fully with GDPR rules (General Data Protection Regulation).

“This service is provided by a private operator for the City Council and will feed important data on transport planning across the city when it’s analysed early in the New Year.

“The cameras provide very accurate data on traffic flows and trends; pedestrian and cycle usage; public transport and indeed all aspects of traffic movement around the city.

“The technology is able to distinguish between all forms of transport across the city and is an important tool in terms of planning for the future,” said the City Council spokesperson.

Since the camera surveys began around ten years ago, they have been carried out mostly during the month of November with the data ready for presentation to City Council engineers and senior officials by the following February.