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O-LevelGeographyPopulation and settlement2217/23 · Oct/Nov 2011 · Q830 Marks

A group of students was studying traffic flows in and out of the centre of a town. A map of the area being studied is shown in Fig. 12 below. [Figure 12] The students wanted to investigate the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: The amount of traffic will be less further from the town centre. Hypothesis 2: The amount of traffic going towards and going away from the town centre will change during the day.

  1. (a)(i)Suggest four things the students would need to do to plan for their traffic count.[4]
  2. (a)(ii)The students agreed to use a tally method to record vehicles passing each survey point. Give two reasons why this is a suitable recording method.[2]
  3. (b)(i)The results of the students' survey are shown in Table 5 (Insert). On which road were the two highest totals?[1]
  4. (b)(ii)Use the data in Table 5 to draw bars on Fig. 12 (page 19) to show the total number of vehicles counted at sites 6 and 8.[2]
  5. (b)(iii)What would be the students' conclusion about Hypothesis 1: The amount of traffic will be less further from the town centre? Support your decision with evidence from Fig. 12 and Table 5.[4]
  6. (c)(i)To investigate Hypothesis 2: The amount of traffic going towards and going away from the town centre will change during the day, the students decided to use the results from one site on each of the four roads. These results are shown in Table 6 (Insert). Look at Tables 5 and 6 and suggest one reason why they made this decision.[1]
  7. (c)(ii)The students plotted flow lines to show their results at sites 2, 4, 6 and 8. Fig. 13 below shows the traffic flows at 08.00, and Fig. 14 on page 23 shows the traffic flows at 17.00. Use the data from Table 6 (Insert) to draw two flow lines on Fig. 13 (page 22) to show the number of vehicles travelling along Queens Road at 08.00. [Figures 13 and 14][2]
  8. (c)(iii)Use the data in Table 6 to complete below the rank order of the number of vehicles at 08.00. Write in the names of the three roads in the table below. Rank Name of road Highest Cambridge Road Lowest[1]
  9. (c)(iv)What conclusion would the students make about Hypothesis 2: The amount of traffic going towards and going away from the town centre will change during the day? Use evidence from Table 6 and Figs 13 and 14 to support your answer.[4]
  10. (d)Suggest three improvements to the data collection methods used in the students' investigation.[3]
  11. (e)Robertson Drive and Wellington Drive provide access to a popular beach. How and why might this cause traffic flow to vary?[2]
  12. (f)(i)To extend her fieldwork one student decided to do an investigation into what opinions people had about the traffic-free zone in the centre of the town. Suggest a suitable hypothesis.[1]
  13. (f)(ii)Complete the questionnaire, Fig. 15, below, with three questions which the student could ask to test her hypothesis. The first part of the questionnaire has been done for you. [Figure 15][3]

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Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2011). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

  1. [4] (a)(i) Where / which roads to do the survey / Location of survey points / safe place / away from traffic lights / Measure distance from town centre / Which day / when to do the survey / What time(s) to do the survey / How long to record / count / How many surveys to do in one day / How to organise themselves (e.g. one student on each side of the road / number of students in each group / assigning students to sites) / What equipment they would need – stopwatch, counters, clipboard, paper for recording / Synchronise timing / Classification of traffic / what is traffic / How to count and record / tally method / Prepare tally chart
  2. [2] (a)(ii) Easy / quick method to do / Allows accurate totalling after
  3. [1] (b)(i) Cambridge (Road)
  4. [2] (b)(ii) Two bars drawn on Fig. 5, shading not required. Site 6: 100 vehicles (1 cm). Site 8: 320 vehicles (3.2 cm)
  5. [4] (b)(iii) Hypothesis 1 is incorrect / false / partially true – reserve / No clear pattern on the four roads / Two roads show less traffic further away from centre (Queens Rd. / Robertson Dr.) / Two roads show more traffic further away from centre (Wellington Dr. / Cambridge Rd.) / But difference in amount of traffic variation is small on all roads / Amount of traffic varies between roads not distance from centre / Credit paired data for same road to 1 mark max – reserve
  6. [1] (c)(i) Less data to work with so easier to use / Both sites along each road have similar results / Take too long to do all 8 sites
  7. [2] (c)(ii) Flow lines drawn on map – mark width of arrow base. Towards town centre: 90 vehicles (0.9 cm). Away from town centre: 45 vehicles (0.45 cm)
  8. [1] (c)(iii) Queens Road / Robertson Drive / Wellington Drive / Must have road / drive
  9. [4] (c)(iv) Hypothesis 2 is correct / the amount of traffic going towards and going away from the town centre will change – reserve / More traffic / wider arrows going towards centre at 08.00 / morning / More traffic / wider arrows going away from centre at 17.00 / evening / Each road has the same pattern of movement / Credit paired data for am & pm for any 1 road to 1 mark max – reserve
  10. [3] (d) Surveys done more frequently during the day / More survey points to give greater coverage / survey more roads / Surveys done on different days / Comparison with survey done on a non-work day such as weekend / More students / groups doing survey to minimise tallying errors / to check results / Use counters / stopwatch / Classification of types of traffic
  11. [2] (e) There will be more traffic / many cars / lots of cars / many people. Why: in summer / one part of the year / weekend / evening / morning / holiday time / hotter / sunny / Activity on beach / Accept reverse reasoning if answer is ‘less traffic / less people’
  12. [1] (f)(i) Hypothesis such as: Traffic-free zone has improved the town centre / Traffic-free zone causes problems for shop owners / Traffic-free zone attracts more shoppers to the town centre / There is less congestion in the town centre now there is traffic – free zone / The town centre is less polluted / It’s safer to shop in the town centre
  13. [3] (f)(ii) Questions such as: How often do you shop in the town centre? / Do you think a traffic-free zone is a good idea? / What is one advantage of the traffic-free zone for you? / What is one disadvantage of the traffic-free zone for you? / Questions must be relevant to hypothesis in f ((i). If no hypothesis / inappropriate hypothesis in f ((i) credit to 2 marks max for questions which are broadly relevant to an investigation on a traffic-free zone

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About this question

Topic
Population and settlement, O-Level Geography (syllabus 2217). Structured question, 30 marks.
Source
O-Level Geography, Oct/Nov 2011 Paper 2 Variant 3, question 8.

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