Traffic Sensors
Nelson City Council uses sensors in different parts of the city to learn more about how people and vehicles move around.
These sensors help us understand how cyclists, pedestrians, cars, and trucks all share the road. We place them where they’re most needed - based on things like traffic flow, safety concerns, or planning for future improvements.
The sensors are not designed or intended to be for surveillance purposes and cannot identify individual people or vehicle registration numbers.
No attempt will be made to identify individual people or vehicles from the sensor data.
The blurred footage is captured, processed and discarded within seconds.
Traffic Sensor FAQs
What kind of information do the sensors collect?
The sensors gather useful data about how roads are being used. This includes things like how many vehicles are passing by (and what types), how fast they’re going, how long journeys take, and which routes people are taking - all from a single sensor.
How do the sensors work?
The sensors use smart technology to understand how people and vehicles move through public spaces. They can tell the difference between cars, bikes, pedestrians, and even how busy a train platform is - all using a built-in camera and advanced artificial intelligence.
Importantly, your privacy is protected. The camera footage is processed instantly by the sensor itself and then deleted right away. Only anonymous data - like the number of vehicles or the paths cyclists take - is saved and shared. No personal or identifying information is ever stored.
How does the sensor tell different vehicles apart?
The sensor has been trained using hundreds of thousands of images of vehicles - like cars, vans, buses, bikes, and more. By learning what makes each type unique (for example, vans often don’t have back windows, bikes are slimmer than motorbikes, and buses usually have two rows of windows), the system can tell them apart, just like a person would.
It uses smart technology to spot and classify vehicles based on lots of little details, helping us understand how different types of road users move through the area.
Is my privacy protected?
Absolutely. Nelson City Council takes your privacy seriously - please read our full Privacy Statement
The sensors do not collect any personal information. They only gather anonymous data, like how many vehicles or people are in an area, to help improve transport planning and public spaces.
