We are switching gears now to talk about counting cars. Yes, counting and classifying the cars on your roads. There are quite a few reasons you want to study the volumes of cars on your roads, from resolving complaints to supporting requests to change speed limits to understanding how to better configure your roads to support a perceived increase in traffic. Any way you slice it, understanding the kinds, volumes, and speeds of vehicles on your roads is useful in supporting your traffic safety program.
At the heart of every great traffic engineering project is a good traffic study. Data derived from traffic studies can provide the information needed to make the right decisions about safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of traffic management efforts.
But undertaking a traffic study? What about the time commitment? Cost? Duration? Resources and safety? These can be hard to quantify. The typical answer is “well, that depends” on what you’re studying and the kind of analysis you need.
The good news is that new traffic management technologies and enhancements are being developed all the time. Technology-based traffic equipment is more affordable, easier to deploy and manage, more compact, and there are more choices available. They provide for access to your data in real time, provide a more comprehensive picture of your traffic environment, and can cost thousands less than manual data collection.
Check out our portfolio of counting and classifying products here, and stay tuned as we discuss how enabling cloud-based IoT (Internet of Things) sensors can help you optimize your traffic programs (without scaring you or requiring an IT consultant to set up your system).
