[Traffic Survey Manual]

[Pakistan]

[Solution of all traffic related issues]

This detailed document encompass traffic surveys dynamics

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[Pakistan Traffic Survey Manual]

Purpose and Scope
of the Manual

In order to facilitate the

assessment of present and future
TRAFFIC COUNT SURVEY
traffic demands, for the
Traffic volume studies are conducted to determine the number, movements, and development of need-based
classifications of roadway vehicles at a given location. These data can help identify infrastructure accurate
critical flow time periods, determine the influence of large vehicles or pedestrians information and continuous
on vehicular traffic flow, or document traffic volume trends. monitoring of traffic by
appropriate methods is necessary.
The length of the sampling period depends on the type of count being taken and the Implementing authorities must
intended use of the data recorded. For example, an intersection count may be therefore ensure that sufficient
and appropriate data is available
conducted during the peak flow period. If so, traffic count with 15-minute intervals
to undertake necessary planning,
could be used to obtain the traffic volume data. These counts have immense design, construction and
significance in traffic planning, design, and operation. Information about the maintenance of the country’s road
volumes is important for development of capacity analysis turning and parking network, which is aimed at
restrictions, planning one-way streets, etc. meeting the prevailing traffic
flow, future traffic growth and
USES OF TRAFFIC COUNTS loading without considerable
Volume counts play a major role in traffic engineering. Their uses include: deterioration in the quality of
service.
1. Determining the need for traffic control devices This guideline has therefore been
2. Obtaining seasonal factors (weekly, monthly, yearly etc.) prepared with the main aim being
3. Developing traffic flow maps to
4. Research and Operational studies Provide basic information,
5. Obtaining demand concept and principles with
6. Determining ADTs and AADT. respect to traffic data collection
7. Determining peak periods and peak hours and analysis.
8. Signal phasing and timing There are various methods of data
9. Determining critical movements collection available and used by
10. Determining the need for channelization different
organizations/institutions.
11. Vehicle classifications (Traffic Mix)
12. Calculating crash rates
13. To study future traffic trends and assisting in predicting traffic flows in the
future

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TRAFFIC COUNTS AS INPUT

Some of the key areas in which traffic flow data is needed as input for development and management of the road
network include:

1. Checking the efficiency of the road network by comparing current traffic volume with the level of service or
the calculated capacity
2. Determination of Volume to Capacity Ratio and saturation flow rate
3. Calculating delay and jam density
4. Performing queue length analysis
5. Determining the need for traffic control devices
6. Development of Geometric design and Pavement design
7. Classification of roads on their functional basis
8. Traffic impact estimation studies

CATEGORIES OF TRAFFIC COUNT SURVEY TECHNIQUES

It is important to know the extent of traffic data required or to be collected, which will then regulate its quality
and type of vehicle classification to be implemented. Traffic counting mainly falls in to two main categories,
namely; manual counts and automatic counts. There is no distinct difference between the two methods however,
the economic use or selection of an appropriate method of traffic counting is a function of the level of traffic flow
and the required data quality. The two broadly classified survey techniques and their sub-classifications along
with their execution methodology are mentioned hereunder:

Manual Counts
The most common method of collecting traffic flow data is the manual method, which consist of assigning a
person to record traffic as it passes. This method of data collection can be expensive in terms of manpower, but it
is nonetheless necessary in most cases where vehicles are to be classified with a number of movements recorded
separately, such as at intersections.

At intersection sites, the traffic on each arm should be counted and recorded separately for each movement. It is
of supreme importance that traffic on roads with more than one lane are counted and classified by direction of
traffic flow. Permanent traffic-counting teams are normally set up to carry out the counting at the various
locations throughout the road network at set interval. The duration of the count is determined prior to initiation of
traffic counting and it is dictated by the end use of data.

Methods for Manual Counting:

1. Tally Marking
 The Tally Marking 'five-bar gate' method is the most versatile and is
applicable to both link and turning counts. It records data quickly (without the
need for extreme neatness), is the most economical in use of space on the
survey form and can be summarized quickly. The main issue with this
technique is that only one mode of traffic can be counted at a time by each
surveyor.

 The 'initial letter' method is appropriate for surveys with short periods of high
flow, when field manpower is limited. It has the fastest rate of data recording
where one surveyor must record several items and is very fast for counts in only
one direction, as the surveyor's need to look down at the survey form is limited.

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The main problem with this technique is that, it does require longer processing time than other methods,
neatness to distinguish the symbols and more processing manpower.

 The 'crossing out numbers' method is best with low or medium continuous flow. It is the least flexible of the
methods and has the slowest recording rate. However, there are no problems of surveyors 'losing count', and
totaling is immediate.

2. Traffic Counters
Manually operated traffic counters are a commonly used piece of equipment for manual counts. Traffic counter
boards are composed of a number of hand-operated counters arranged so that each approach lane to a
conventional four-legged intersection is represented by a counter.

1. Mechanical Counting Boards

Mechanical count boards consist of counters mounted on a board that record each direction of travel. Common
counts include pedestrian, bicycle, vehicle classification, and traffic volume
counts. Typical counters are push button devices with three to five registers.
Each button represents a different stratification of type of vehicle or pedestrian
being counted. The limited number of buttons on the counter can restrict the
number of classifications that can be counted on a given board. A watch or a
stopwatch is also necessary with this method to measure the desired count
interval.

2. Electronic Counting Boards

Electronic counting boards are battery-operated, hand-held devices used in collecting

traffic count data.
They are similar to mechanical counting boards, but with some important differences.
Electronic counting boards are lighter, more compact, and easier to handle. They have
an internal clock that automatically separates the data by time interval. Special
functions include automatic data reduction and summary. The data can also be
downloaded to a computer, which saves time.

Automatic Counts
The detection of vehicular presence and road occupancies has historically been performed primarily on or near the
surface of the road. The exploitation of new electromagnetic spectra and wireless communication media in recent
year, has allowed traffic detection to occur in a non-intrusive fashion, at locations above or to the side of the
roadway. Pavement-based traffic detection currently relatively inexpensive, will be met with fierce competition in
the coming years from detectors that are liberated from the road surface. The most commonly used detector types
are:

1. Pneumatic tubes
Pneumatics tubes are the temporary device for traffic count. These are tubes
placed on the top of road surfaces at locations where traffic counting is
required. As vehicles pass over the tube, the resulting compression sends a
burst of air to an air switch. Air switches can provide accurate axle counts

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even when compressions occur more than 30 m from the traffic counter. Although the life of the pneumatic tubes
is traffic dependent as they directly drive over it, it is used worldwide for speed measurement and vehicle
classification for any level of traffic. Care should be exercised in placing and operating the system, to ensure its
efficient operation and minimize any potential error in the data.

2. Inductive loops
Inductive loop detector consists of embedded turned wire from which it gets
its name. This is a permanent traffic counting device. It includes an oscillator,
and a cable, which allows signals to pass from the loop to the traffic counting
device. The counting device is activated by the change in the magnetic field
when a vehicle passes over the loop. Inductive loops almost maintenance-free
and are currently the most widely used equipment for vehicle counting and
detection. Single loops are incapable of measuring vehicular speed and the
length of a vehicle. This requires the use of a pair of loops to estimate speed
by analyzing the time it takes a vehicle to pass through the loops installed in series. An inductive loop can also, to
a certain degree, be used to detect the chassis heights and estimate the number of axles. By using the inductive
loops, the length of the vehicle is therefore derived from the time taken by the vehicle to drive from the first to the
second loop (driving time) and the time during which the vehicle was over the first and the second loop (cover
time). The system could be used for any level of traffic. The problem with this practice is that the number of axles
of the vehicle is not able to be determined, so the vehicles are not classified in terms of number of axles and
ultimately pavement cannot be designed by using this method of traffic count. Moreover, the loops cannot be
utilized at turning movements, junctions and roundabouts.

3. Micro-millimeter Wave Radar Detectors.

Radar detectors actively emits radioactive signals at frequencies ranging from the ultra-high frequencies (UHF),
and can register vehicular presence and speed depending upon signals returned upon reflection from the vehicle.
They are also used to determine vehicular volumes and classifications in both traffic directions. Radar detectors
are very little susceptible to adverse weather conditions, and can operate day and night .However, they require
comparatively high levels of computing power to analyze the quality of signals but these vehicular volumes
cannot be utilized in pavement design as radioactive signals are not capable to count axle for each passing vehicle.

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4. Lidar Technology
LIDAR technology operates on the “time of flight” or “Time-Distance”
principle. The laser units transmit infrared light pulses at a moving object.
Since the speed of light is known, it is possible to ascertain the distance of an
object by the time it takes for a beam to bounce off an object and return.
Changes in that distance over time provide the vehicle’s speed, a
computation that is based on an average of hundreds of laser light pulses
hitting the object in a fraction of a second. When used for speed or distance
measurement, laser devices are also known by the name LIDAR (an acronym
for Light Detection and Ranging) technology. Speed measuring lasers are
also sometimes referred to as a laser speed measurement device (LSMD).
LIDAR devices are often used in high traffic areas, since the laser beam can easily focus on individual vehicles,
allowing pinpoint accuracy and provides an accurate traffic count. The surveyor can accurately measure the speed
of a vehicle, even in heavy traffic.

5. Computer Vision
Computer vision-based traffic monitoring systems can collect
much more information than convention systems and it is the best
and effective method for traffic counting. The data that can be
deduced by this technology includes:

1. Vehicle classification (color, size, type)

2. Vehicle ID via number plate
3. Congestion data (queue length, flow rates)

The system is easy to install and provide maximum accurate results. The main problems with this technology
include:

1. The system is sensitive to lighting condition

2. The system incorporates other objects on the scene
3. The vehicles must be separated from each other so that they do not appear connected
4. Since 3D vision is not achieved by camera, the size and distance is not achieved accurately

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5. When the number of lanes are increased, the cone of vision of camera misinterpret the size of vehicle on
the outlying lane
6. The shadow of car can be counted as a vehicle by the machine
The system works with a camera interfaced to computer through USB port. Non-model based software
approaches are used that can able to detect and track but unable to recognize the objects, provides image
segmentation and feature point based algorithm.

1 - Current image frame 2 – Background

image

3 – Difference image 4 – threshold difference image

5 – Contour image of vehicle 6 – vehicle detection image

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Comparison of Automatic Count Methods

Monitoring Collected Data

Advantages
System
Computer vision  Vehicle detection  More than one lane can
 Count be monitored
 Speed  Easy to install
 Category  Low maintenance
 Path  Autonomous
 Flow rate  Flexibility in changing
 Queue length the traffic scene
 Route travel times  Information can be
 Lane changes relayed back to
authorities in real-time
 Easy to be networked
Disadvantages
 Not reliable in varying
lighting condition and
weather
 Field of view must be
reasonably clear, free
from occlusions
 Vehicles must be
separated from each
other so they do not
appear connected

Magnetic loop  Vehicle detection  Reliable  Permanent traffic

 Count  Low maintenance device
 Volume  Autonomous  Cannot function
 Occupancy accurately if lane
 Speed discipline is not
 Headway observed
 Installation and
maintenance require
lane closure
 Cannot be utilizes at
junctions and turning
movements
 Improper installation
decreases pavement life

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 Vehicle detection  Temporary traffic device  Can only be used if

Pneumatic tubes
Micro-millimetre Wave
Radar Detectors
 Count speed of vehicles is
constant.
 Cannot be utilizes at
junctions and turning
movements
 Speed  Highly accurate  Vehicular volume
 Vehicular volumes  Can be used as cannot be applied to
 Vehicular temporary and pavement design
classification permanent device because axle type is not
identified by this
technology

Semi-Automatic Counts

1. Semi-Automatic Video Camera

This is the most widely used method of counting in Pakistan. Video cameras are used for
recording traffic movement, which are mounted on a vintage point from where a clear scene can
be captured. The video is then rendered and processed under close supervision of enumerators
and traffic engineers for counting traffic movement in each direction. The counting is
performed by the surveyors for further evaluation of data. The outcomes are then recorded in
forms with respect to each direction.

Traffic Count Survey Significance in Pakistan

In Pakistan there exist dearth of transportation infrastructure as well as traffic rules which is the basic tone of the
contrast that exists between Pakistani and other traffic.

The secondary but prominent factor of influence is extreme modifications that make whole new categories of
vehicles which is difficult to classify.

The afore mentioned factors make it difficult to implement the other approaches for survey and its analysis
therefore some modifications are needed to be made to maintain the efficiency and accuracy of the surveys here

Following is a brief description of surveys with respect to Pakistan:

Tally Marking
Tally marking is simplest and most basic traffic count survey which is used widely for traffic counts in Pakistan.

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Merits
 Use less technological resource
 Efficient for highly variable classification count due to vehicle modifications
 Cost incurred is low
 Effective in counting indiscipline and overlapping traffic

Demerits
 Requires more human resource
 Consumes more time with respect to other surveys
 Do not yields raw results that cannot directly be used in any analysis

Modifications
 No modification is required for implementation or operation

Traffic counter
Traffic counter are classified into two main categories analog and digital. Analog counter is based on gears and
mechanics while digital counter is powered by a micro controller after tally marking it’s the most used traffic
survey count technique.

Merits
 Use less technological resource
 Efficient for highly variable classification count due to vehicle modifications
 Effective in counting indiscipline and overlapping traffic

Demerits
 Requires more human resource
 Consumes more time with respect to other surveys
 Do not yields raw results that cannot directly be used in any analysis
 Do not have any backup data if count is lost in mid-way

Modifications
 No modification is required for implementation or operation

Pneumatic Tubes
Pneumatic Tubes traffic count survey is the most basic automatic traffic count de but is inefficient in Pakistan due
to different traffic dynamics
Merits
 Temporary
 Easy to maintain and repair

Demerits
 Due to absence of lane discipline counts are faulty
 Due to various vehicle modification axle load of vehicles vary largely which makes it difficult for the device to
give accurate results. The results are usually highly faulty
 Cannot be utilizes at junctions and turning movements

Modifications
 No modification can be done to this device.

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Inductive loops
Inductive loops works on the principle of magnetic induction.

Merits
 Since the mechanism is embedded and do not have any delicate component it do not requires frequent
maintenance hence reliable.
 Low maintenance
 Autonomous

Demerits
 Permanent traffic device
 Cannot function accurately if lane discipline is not observed

Modifications
 No modification can be done to this device

Automatic Video Camera

In this method the video of traffic is recorded and analyzed at same time through augmented reality software pre-
embedded in camera software

Merits
 Since the mechanism is embedded and do not have any delicate component it do not requires frequent
maintenance hence reliable.
 Low maintenance
 Autonomous

Demerits
 Temporary traffic device
 Cannot function accurately if lane discipline is not observed

Modifications
 Automatic video camera is modified to semi-automatic which makes it more convenient and effective for
Pakistani traffic condition.

Semi-Automatic Video Camera

This is the most common survey method used widely in Pakistan mostly in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. In
this method videos of traffic are recorded and then afterwards the video is analyzed through augmented reality
software or human eye.

Merits
 Since the mechanism is embedded and do not have any delicate component it do not requires frequent
maintenance hence reliable.
 Low maintenance
 Autonomous

Demerits
 Permanent traffic device
 Cannot function accurately if lane discipline is not observed

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Modifications
 This is already a modified device and do not need any modification.

Vehicular Classification:
Manual traffic flow count is categorized by a visual assessment of the vehicle size and configuration of
axles. The current traffic flow data collection system in Pakistan classifies vehicles into sixteen
categories as follows:

 Cycle
 Motor Cycle
 Car/Taxi
 Jeep/Pickup
 Coach/Coaster/Mini Bus/Hiace
 Bus
 2 AX Truck (Single)
 3 AX Truck (Single)
 3 AX Truck (Tandem)
 4 AX Truck (Single Tandem)
 4 AX Truck (Tandem Single )
 5 AX Single-Single-Tandem
 5 AX Tandem-Single-Single
 6 AX Tandem-Tridem
 6 AX Tandem-Single-Tandem
 Other Machinery

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Figure 1: Simplified Classification for Initial Letter Method

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Figure 2: Tally Marking Survey Form

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Figure 3: Classified Vehicle Count Sheet by Envision Engineering
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References:
1. Overseas Road Note 11, Overseas Centre Transport Research Laboratory, Crow Thorne,
Berkshire, United Kingdom
2. Traffic Data Collection and Analysis, Ministry of Works and Transport, Gaborone, Botswana
3. Computer Vision Based Real-Time Traffic Monitoring System, Kim-Sung Jie and Ming Liu.
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University

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