Public agencies - the new Highways England and others - should be working with technology developers to make best use of highways and vehicle data, says David Metz, visiting professor at University College London and former chief scientific advisor at the Department for Transport (DfT).

He argues that private sector technology and app developers are arguably best placed to use traffic date made available by highway authorities and frequently it is these smaller, fleet of foot innovators that can take advantage of opportunities such as those presented by the masses of vehicle and pedestrian movement now accumulating.

Mr Metz had oversight of DfT's research and development programmes during his time as chief scientist, including observation of statisticians' work on traffic modelling and the National Travel Survey (NTS).

His insight on statistical trends has led him to hypothesise 'peak car' from the apparent phenomenon of a general cessation in growth in car use per capita.

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