How the City of Sanibel Uses Flock Safety Traffic Analytics to Navigate Tourism, Trucks, and Storm Recovery

During peak months, visitor volumes swell dramatically, creating traffic management challenges on an island with no traffic lights and limited roadway infrastructure.

When Hurricane Ian devastated Sanibel in 2022, the city’s legacy license plate recognition (LPR) system was destroyed. Facing recovery and a need for improved visibility, the Sanibel Police Department turned to Flock Safety for a modern upgrade. Deploying Flock’s LPR and Traffic Analytics platform provided the department with critical insights into traffic patterns, enabling smarter officer scheduling, clearer public communication, and faster data reporting.

From Manual Spreadsheets to Real-Time Traffic Insights

Before implementing Flock Safety, the Sanibel PD relied on time-consuming manual scripts and spreadsheets to analyze traffic trends. Officers and analysts would run individual queries for each 15-minute interval, then chart and interpret the data manually – a process that could take hours each week.

How Flock Helped

• With Flock Safety Traffic Analytics, the team gains instant access to daily vehicle counts, hourly traffic volumes, and vehicle classification insights with just a few clicks.
• This transition has eliminated manual guesswork, allowing the department to focus resources on strategic planning and public safety response rather than data compilation.

Smarter Resource Allocation to Reduce Congestion

Sanibel’s roads use four-way stops and traffic aids instead of signal lights, making accurate traffic planning essential to keep vehicles moving, especially during tourism peaks.Using Flock’s real-time traffic data, the department can predict congestion patterns earlier in the day. This foresight empowers them to deploy traffic aids and officers to key intersections before backups begin, keeping both residents and visitors moving safely and efficiently.

Vehicle Class Analysis: Solving Hidden Traffic Problems

During a recent beach renourishment project, Sanibel faced worsening congestion despite steady vehicle counts. Using Flock’s vehicle class analysis, the department discovered the real cause: roughly 300 dump trucks were entering the island daily. These heavy vehicles traveled at slower speeds and created significant bottlenecks.Class analysis revealed the traffic problem stemmed not from volume alone but from vehicle type, enabling city leaders to coordinate construction schedules and improve traffic flow.

Building Stronger Community Communication

MPD’s use of Enhanced LPR has drastically improved case 
resolution times and increased law enforcement efficiency. Some key benefits include:

• Hourly Traffic Breakdowns: Enables the department to publish accurate travel advisories
• Press Releases: Issue press releases with real data, and advise residents and visitors on optimal travel times.
• Outcome: This transparency builds trust and ensures public safety efforts are rooted in facts, not assumptions. Additionally, the ability to generate data-backed reports quickly has enhanced communication with city leadership.


Looking Ahead

As Sanibel continues to recover from Hurricane Ian and welcomes millions of visitors each year, the Police Department plans to expand its use of Flock Safety insights to further improve traffic flow, increase operational efficiency, and enhance the overall safety of its roads for both residents and tourists.

Key Results

• Faster reporting for leadership decision-making
• Proactive officer scheduling to prevent gridlock
• Vehicle class analysis to identify traffic bottleneck
• Real-time data to enhance public communication and community trust