Automated surveys for the provision of pedestrian crossings

Quality data are fundamental to modern traffic control and management. Automatic traffic detection systems provide a major source of such information. Most of the current systems in place are in large cities, where traffic is a major problem and sufficient money is available for their implementation. It is, however, a common misperception that such systems are outside the budgets of local authorities. A study was set out to demonstrate the scope of using automated detection systems on smaller projects and the consequent benefits for practising traffic engineers and local government. The study focused on the potential of using automated vehicle and pedestrian detection technology for the provision of pedestrian crossing facilities. Two separate sets of surveys were carried out in the UK-the first was based on automatic counters and the second used conventional (manual) counts. The results were used individually to determine if and what type of pedestrian crossing was required. A software tool was developed to convert information from the automatic counters into spreadsheet format and to automate the subsequent calculations related to pedestrian crossing selection. According to the findings of this study, the use of automatic rather than manual counters to perform surveys could result in significant time savings. It was also found that, although their initial cost is substantially higher than manual surveys, automatic counters become more cost-effective after several surveys due to their relatively low running costs.