after all, as signmakers we are in direct competition with other advertising media, such as radio, TV, outdoor advertising(billboards)
i happened to be listening to the radio today and heard an ad about the benefits of advertising on radio, the ad expounded upon the number of potential listeners this medium could reach.
my question is, does anyone know of a source for traffic count for city streets and the potential exposure to a sign placed on said street?
it would be helpful to be able to tell the sign customer the number of readers that flow by their sign daily.
does anyone know of such a data base?
thanks,
mark
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
Mark, check with your stae highway dept. if it is a state hwy. I know that they oft times put out counting devices prior to installing or changing traffic lights in order to determine feasability(sp??).
That is a really good idea that will help with sales. Hope someone else on here has some better answer. I'd like to check into that myself considering that our area is growing so quickly.
Posted by timi NC (Member # 576) on :
Here in North Carolina the local "TAB"(traffic audit bureau) counts come from the highway dept. They call that the Department of transportation here,not sure how it is termed in Alabama,...
Posted by Mark Fair Signs (Member # 289) on :
thanks kathy and timi, just a thought, it might be interesting to give the potential sign customer some stats.
timi, it's the H.M.C.?. here in alabama.
"How Many Cars ?"
Posted by Chuck Churchill (Member # 68) on :
Here in Ontario the city government does traffic counting on major steets. They use the information to determine when to expand and repair roads. The traffic counts are also used to help create the official city plan, control traffic light sequencing and consider zoning modifications when big box stores want to move to town. It is possible to get the information from them by contacting the "roads" department and asking for the Average Daily Annual Traffic Count for a specific section of road. Twice over the years I have managed to buy a survey of the city from them showing all the traffic counts they did during the previous year.
This information can be very useful when talking to clients about the benefit of onsite signs. Its real easy to make the case for a nicer sign when the increased costs breaks down to fractions of a penny per viewer.
I hope your city provides this kind of service.
Posted by Bill Dirkes (Member # 1000) on :
Hey Mark call yer old boss, or the folks at the local Outdoor Adv. plant, they ought to have TAB info for the region they serve. I would think anyone contemplating a biz start-up that relies on impulse or walk in traffic would want these numbers while choosing a location for their business, and most of em don't even give it a thought.
Posted by Linda Silver Eagle (Member # 274) on :
Yawl know I how much Ihate math (unless I'm snappin together an invoice hehehe), but in this case, what I would say is,
"You see for yourself, that every 2.5 minutes, an average of XX cars are stuck at "your" light, wouldn't it be great if they could see YOU? ...drops their jaw (and their money), every time.
Posted by Checkers (Member # 63) on :
Hiya Mark, I got mine from the police department traffic safety officer. If he can't help you, he should be able to put you in the right direction. havin' fun, Checkers
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
Mark, often times the Chamber of Commerce has that info.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Check with your city's department of transportation or even the public works department.
My home town of Lake Havasu, AZ continually has studies of traffic flow because the area is expanding so rapidly. They did a traffic study just to see the impact a new Home Depot store would make on the highway it's built right next to. They added two more steady traffic lanes (one lane each direction) AND two turn lanes (one in each direction).
Your city should definitely have this info on hand though, they need it for monitoring the need for road expansions, impact of parking lots and other properties along the roadways, not to mention how traffic signals and other signs affect the pattern of the traffic flow.
Posted by Joe Rees (Member # 211) on :
HiMark, When I lived in St. Pete, FL, it was a simple phone call to the highway department and they could give me traffic counts for any intersection. I don't remember the actual numbers anymore but they were much higher than I imagined, something like 500 cars an hour (24hr average) were zipping by my storefront. If there are multiple passengers, the numbers of viewings a sign gets are pretty steep. I sold a few signs with that info.
