When planning a new construction project or a road development project, it is vital to consider the local traffic data. Traffic impact studies help the planners and the government understand and predict the consequences of said project on local traffic.
Various projects as per their nature will need different kinds of data, for example, a pathway construction/renovation project will need pedestrian count and analysis. A roundabout beautification project would require turning movement counts.
Road traffic monitoring and traffic counting surveys are important steps regularly taken by site developers and governments before a project begins.
How is it done?
Road traffic counting surveys need to generate a specific kind of data and data reports for the site developers or the government to study, analyze to take further actions. These reports are generated by traffic impact study software which is specifically designed to give the desired output.
The fact that wrong data entry within this software can result in major problems is a different matter altogether.
- Earlier data was collected manually, this method though cheap, often resulted in inaccurate data leaving a huge room for errors and problems which were faced during the project implementation.
- Then came tube counts which was a method where a tube laying on the road would count the number of vehicles passing over it, though more accurate than the manual process, it lacked flexibility and gathering different kinds of data was difficult.
- Then came the era of recording the videos of the traffic. This gave a lot of scope to the data analyst for accuracy and flexibility within the gather data. Although in this method the video had to be slowed down and then analyzed, and getting specific vehicle classifications would mean deploying more people who would watch the video and classify the vehicles. This took time and manpower. A day's video would often require 3-4 days for analysis.
The New Age.
As the rest of the technologies of the world have evolved, The technology used for traffic surveys has reached a day and age where traffic data is collected using edge computing cameras, which can process the video on-site and as per the settings and requirements can give out data reports within mere hours. Data has become more accurate and flexible, creating customized data reports and saving time, manpower, and costs.
A lot of companies have developed such cameras and software but Tektronix technologies are one of the companies that have risen over others. Their product is proudly and profoundly named TEKTRAFFIC.
With their Ai powered devices and software that constantly evolve and can classify over 15 various vehicles, while conducting over 17 different kinds of surveys such as
- Turning movement counts.
- Bus Occupancy Surveys
- Intersection count Surveys.
- Vehicle Occupancy Surveys
- Pedestrian Surveys.
- Cycle movements Surveys.
- Registration plate surveys.
- Saturation Flow rate.
- Queue length and driver behaviour studies.
- Signals and signage inventories.
- Public transport surveys.
- Trip Generation surveys.
- GPS Journey Time Surveys
- Land Use inventories
- Origin destination Surveys.
- Roadside household travel interview Surveys.
- Spots speed surveys. and many more..
Traffic counting and traffic collection are made easy.