Best Use of Traffic Counting Stations

1
Best Use of Traffic Counting Stations

• David C Hamilton
• Datagen Ltd

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
2
Introduction

• Scottish Roads Traffic Database (SRTDb) holding
  the data from
• 1350 stations including 350 ATC 450 JTC
• Inductive loops
• Entire trunk road network (3400 km)
• Presentation
• Old Specification
• New Specification
• Emerging Methods

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
3
Old Specification

• Single loop per traffic lane volumetric only
• Cabinet
• Counter
• Power source (battery or solar)
• Manual data retrieval
• Cost above plus traffic management at
  installation (approx. 2,800 for 2 lanes)

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
4
New Specification

• 2 loops per traffic lane speed and class
• Cabinet
• Counter
• Power source (solar or mains)
• Retrieval by telemetry (land line or mobile)
• Cost approx. 3,300 for two lanes. Paid back in
  one to two years due to lower operational costs.

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
5
Benefits of New

• Vehicle class (EUR 6) and speed
• Congestion monitoring
• Pseudo journey time data
• Telemetry
• Faster identification of problems
• Allows Vehicle by Vehicle data collection
• Power usage increase
• Vehicle by Vehicle option
• Better fault diagnosis
• Improved data analysis
• Lower Operational Costs

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
6
Vehicle by Vehicle

• Date, Time, Lane, Direction, Speed and Class of
  every vehicle
• Improved Analysis
• Platooning
• Gap/Headway measurements
• Flexibility
• Downside
• Storage
• Telemetry costs increase

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
7
Emerging Methods

• Event Monitoring
• Live congestion monitoring
• Incident detection
• Weather station data collection
• CCTV and still digital images

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
8
Summary

• Speed safety analysis, congestion monitoring
  and event monitoring
• Telemetry reduced operational costs, improved
  fault identification and, VBV feasible
• VBV gap/headway analysis, user-specified speed
  analysis and improved diagnostics
• Cost of installation - little change

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005
9
Best Practice

• When installing a loop site, ensure that the
  infrastructure loops, cabinet, power source
  are to a basic standard capable of speed and
  class data collection. Consider VBV data
  collection and telemetry too.
• Priority 1 2 loops
• Priority 2 telemetry
• Priority 3 VBV
• This is not just a local best practice.

Viking Workshop Copenhagen Denmark 5 6 October
2005