MOHD HANIF BIN MOHD BISTAMAM

(151333566)

A traffic count is a count of pedestrian traffic which is conducted along a particular

road, path, or intersection. A traffic count is commonly undertaken either
automatically with the installation of a electronic traffic recording device or
manually by observers. Traffic counts provide the source data used to calculate the
Annual Average Daily Traffic indicator to traffic volume. Automatic Traffic Counts
depend on the right type of counters and sensors being deployed in the most
appropriate locations. For count projects of up to three traffic lanes, the most
commonly used approach is with pneumatic road tube.

Pneumatic Road Tube Counters

Pneumatic road tube uses rubber tubes placed across

traffic lanes in a specific configuration. When a pair of wheels
hits the tube, air pressure in the compressed tube
activates a recording device that notes the time of the
event. Based on the pattern of these times the device will
match each compression event to a particular
vehicle according to a vehicle classification
scheme. Two tubes attached to the same counter
can be placed a set distance apart in order to
determine speed by measuring the interval between
the time an axle hits the first tube and the time it hits the second tube.

There are several tube configurations that can be used by a counter

depending on the number of lanes and the data needs. There are sources of error
for road tube. Although the life of the pneumatic tubes is traffic dependant as they
directly drive over it, it is used worldwide for speed measurement and vehicle
classifi cation for any level of traffi c. Care should be exercised in placing and
operating the system, to ensure its effi cient operation and minimise any potential
error in the data.

In some configurations one tube can be used across several lanes of traffic.
The detector is able to determine vehicle direction by recording which tube is
contacted first. If two vehicles traveling opposite directions cross the tubes at
the same time, the quality of the pattern matching degrades.

The technique used to distinguish a vehicle by matching sequences of axle

contacts with the tubes allows for the possibility of error by counting two
vehicles as one when they are traveling Basic data would include the time of
day, speed, class and direction of each vehicle contacting the detector.
MOHD HANIF BIN MOHD BISTAMAM
(151333566)