Methods of counts

By V.Prem Raj Kumar

Volume counts

 Manually

 Automatic
 Manual observation

 Many types of counts require classification that are

obtained more easily and accurately with trained
observers.

 Eg:- include vehicle occupancy, pedestrians, turning

movements and vehicle classification
 Manual observation

 Typical equipment needed for manual counts

are:

 Tally sheets

 Mechanical count boards

 Electronic count boards

 Manual observation

 Manual traffic counting requires trained observers.

 They must be relieved periodically to avoid fatigue and degraded

performance.

 Breaks of 10 to 15 minutes should be scheduled at least every 2

hours.

 If data collection period is more than 8 hours, breaks of 30 to 45

minutes should be allowed every 4 hours
 Automatic observation

 The automatic counting method involves the laying of

surface detectors (such as pneumatic road tubes) or
subsurface detectors (such as magnetic or electronic
contact devices) on the road.

 These detect the passing vehicle and transmit the

information to a recorder, which is connected to the
detector at the side of the road.
 Spot speed measurement
 Manually

 Automatic

 Spot speeds may be estimated by manually

measuring the time it takes a vehicle to travel
between two defined points on the roadway a
known distance apart (short distance), usually
less than 90m.
Applications of spot speed

 Speed trends
 Traffic control planning
 Accidental analysis
 Geometric design
 Research studies
Pavement markings
Enoscope or Mirror box
 Road Detector (Pressure contact strips)
 Pressure contact strips, either pneumatic or electric, can be used
to avoid error due to parallax and due to manually starting and
stopping the stopwatch.
Doppler-Principle Meters (Radar)

 The apparatus transmits high frequency electromagnetic

waves in a narrow beam towards the moving vehicle,
and reflected waves changed their length depending up
on the vehicles speed.

 This is recently developed method, it automatically

records speed, employs a radar transmitter-receiver unit.
Electronic-Principle Detectors (Photography)

 In this method a camera records the distance moved by a

vehicle in a selected short time.

 In this exposure of photograph should be in a constant

time interval and the distance travelled by the vehicle is
measured by projecting the films during the exposure
interval.
 Percentile Speed
 98th percentile speed, the speed below which 98% of the
vehicles travel is used as a design speed in geometric
design.

 Sometimes 95th percentile speed is used for this purpose.

 85th percentile speed, the speed below which 85% of the

vehicles travel is used for determining the speed limits
traffic regulations.
AI-Based Traffic speed Measurement
on a Highway
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