THE

TRAFFIC
COUNTING
MANUAL
AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO:
Organizing, Collecting,
Processing, & Pricing Traffic
Data Collection Projects

By Mike Spack, PE, PTOE

& Max Moreland, PE
Version 3.0 – 2019
During my second week on the job as a newly minted traffic
engineer in 1996, my boss gave me a box of tube counting gear
and a product manual. He told me to read the manual and then
install the counting gear on a frontage road project. Welcome to
traffic counting!

Five years later I was working for the city of Maple Grove,
dreaming of being a business owner when I saw a niche — while
there were traffic counting companies around the country, none
existed in Minnesota.

I was involved with my ITE section at the time and started

talking to friends and colleagues from other agencies and
consulting firms about them outsourcing their traffic counts.
A few of them thought it was a great idea and said they would
give me a shot at doing their traffic counts as a subcontractor.
So, in 2001 I started Traffic Data Inc.

20,000+ counts later, Traffic Data Inc. is still going strong, and
we’ve branched into a transportation engineering consulting
firm, Spack Consulting, as well as a counting equipment
manufacturer, SpackSolutions.com.

Since 1996, I’ve learned a lot about counting cars (and heavy
vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, trains, and even boats!), mostly
through trial and error, but also from chatting with other data
collection folks around the country.
In this manual, I show you how we do data collection here at
Traffic Data Inc., from bidding jobs, to organizing field personnel,
to collecting accurate data cost-effectively. The Traffic Counting
Manual is not an academic treatise...it’s just solid, proven advice
— a manual by data collectors for data collectors.

I hope you find it useful!

Michael P. Spack, PE, PTOE

P.S. We launched Version 1.0 of this Manual in 2012 and Version

2.0 in 2015. There are several thousand copies of the Manual in
circulation, and I’ve proudly permitted professors at more than
ten universities to use it in their traffic engineering curriculum.
This update includes recent developments in the industry and
incorporates great feedback we received on the earlier versions.
I’d love to get your feedback on Version 3.0. Send me an email
at [email protected].

P.S.S. I’ve been blogging about traffic data collection and

transportation engineering at MikeOnTraffic.com since 2006.
Please visit and subscribe for tips, advice, and the latest
industry trends.
4 INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

There are lots of ways to collect traffic data, but

all of them follow the same basic pattern. To keep
things simple, we’ve organized this manual into
sections dealing with these basic procedures.

It’s not a manual for any specific brand of

hardware, but we do cover different methods and
hardware you can use to collect the same type of
traffic data.
 INTRODUCTION 5

Here are the specific topics covered in this Manual:

Types of Data Collection 06

Location and Time Selection 10
Pre-installation Preparation 16
Hardware Installation 39
Data Processing 52
Data Quality Control 56
Equipment Maintenance 59
Pricing 62
Data Collection Equipment Brands 66
6 TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION

TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION

There are many types of traffic data collection; but broadly

speaking, traffic counts come in two categories — road
segment data and intersection data.

Road segment data usually

consists of collecting vehicle
volumes, speeds, and
classifications. Collecting this data
is typically done automatically for
several days with pneumatic tube
counters or radar detectors.

Intersection data usually consists of turning movements

and vehicle classifications, as well as pedestrian and bicycle
movements. Traditionally, this was done for a few hours during
peak periods by a person sitting at the intersection and logging
the data on paper or with an electronic tally board.

Although the process of collecting the data will differ for

these studies, the general practices found in this Manual

apply to every type of traffic data collection.
 TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION 7

Today, portable camera technology allows technicians to set up

hardware in minutes and collect video to be counted back at the
office or outsourced to a vehicle counting company.

In addition to segment and intersection vehicle counts, there

are much less common types of short-term traffic data
studies, including license plate matching origin-destination,
saturation flow, queuing studies, delay studies, train
crossing studies, pedestrian compliance studies and more.

Electronic tally boards and computerized pneumatic traffic

counters revolutionized traffic data collection in the 1970s. A
fun piece of trivia is Bill Gates developed a pneumatic tube
counter before founding Microsoft. It took about forty years, but
portable video camera technology and artificial intelligence
are again revolutionizing traffic data collection.

Instead of collecting 48-hour roadway segment data and two

hours of peak period intersection turning movement count data,
agencies and consultants around the world are cost-effectively
merging the two and collecting 48-hour turning movement
count data with video.
8 TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION

The benefits of 48-hour intersection turning movement

counts include:

Increasing safety for personnel by eliminating the

01 need for staff to enter the traffic stream to install
tubes on the road.

Improving the level of service calculations based

02 on averaging peak hour data, as well as identifying
anomalies.

03 Collecting multi-modal transportation data.

Providing data for accurate traffic control warrant

04 analyses and traffic signal timing.

Increasing field work efficiency by easily working

05 around bad weather and street sweeping, the
enemies of pneumatic tubes.

Eliminating the liability of bicyclists thrown off by a

06 tube, a pedestrian tripping on a tube, or a nail letting
loose and puncturing a tire.
 TYPES OF DATA COLLECTION 9

We have transformed the breadth and quality of the

transportation engineering consulting we do at Spack
Consulting because of the rich data we collect now with video
camera technology.

Full disclosure — I started SpackSolutions.com to

design and sell the hardware/software I wished we

had. I’m proud of the video camera hardware and

cloud-based tube counter ecosystem we’ve designed

specifically for the traffic data collection industry

as well as the video processing services we provide

through SpackSolutions.com.
STEP 1

LOCATION & TIME SELECTION

No matter what type of traffic data you’re collecting, the first
step in the process is determining why you need traffic data.
Based on the answer, it’s usually straightforward to determine
how you’ll collect the data along with the location/duration of
the count. The engineer in charge usually gives these details
to the contractor, engineer in training, or technician. But
the person doing the data collection may know a better way
(cheaper/faster/more accurate) to meet the data needs of the
engineer requesting the data.
 LOCATION & TIME SELECTION 11

A good example of this was a call we received from a public

works employee asking for a bunch of 48-hour tube counts,
including vehicle classification data. He was doing this to get a
handle on the traffic patterns downtown.

After chatting for a few minutes, we determined we could get

more accurate data in the slow-moving downtown with 48-hour
turning movements at a couple of key intersections. He didn’t
know about the video technology that made 48-hour turning
movement counts feasible.

We counted heavy vehicles, passenger cars, pedestrians, and

bicycles all separately. This way of collecting the traffic data
ended up being more informative and cheaper than the
original request.

After you’ve pinned down the scope of the data collection, it’s
important to check with the proper authorities (city, county,
or state public works) to ensure there’s no scheduled road
construction in or around where you’ll be collecting data.
12 LOCATION & TIME SELECTION

Also, if you are doing tube counts, be sure to check on street

sweeping schedules with public works — street sweepers will
shred pneumatic tubes and may even damage the counters. And
it’s also important to pay attention to weather forecasts — snow
plows also destroy tubes.

Additionally, counting during severe weather won’t produce

traffic data from average conditions, which is what traffic
engineers typically want. Using video cameras for your data
collection alleviates many of these concerns.

NOTE: In addition to contacting public works, be sure

to contact the local police department if you’re going to
have folks sitting on the side of the road doing manual
turning movement counts.

During my first year on the job, I had a jolting run-in with

the police. At 6:30 in the morning, I parked in a bank parking
lot and was waiting in my car to start a turning movement
count with an electronic tally board. Three squad cars
converged on my car, sirens blaring, and the adrenaline rush
woke me up faster than any coffee could. One of the officers
slowly got out of his squad and carefully walked up to my car
with his hand on his holstered gun.

Thankfully, he was a sergeant who happened to know me

from a meeting at city hall the week before. Things were easily
 LOCATION & TIME SELECTION 13

cleared up, but I could have avoided the whole situation by

letting the city know I’d be out there doing the count.

I certainly remembered this experience five years later when

I started Traffic Data Inc. I had “Traffic Count in Progress”
magnetic signs made for all the data collection staff to put
on the outside of their cars. I also set up a policy of calling
the local public works and police departments in advance of
fieldwork. I recommend you do both to avoid issues on your
traffic counting projects.

Also, avoid setting up traffic counting hardware in the field

during heavy traffic conditions. You could make congestion
worse, and you’ll also be less safe on/by the road during rush
hour. It’s best practice to avoid installing pneumatic tube
counters during the morning and evening peak periods.

NOTE: Mid-morning is the best time to work on corridors

with heavier traffic.

Sometimes, data collection companies even work in the

middle of the night when installing gear on freeways. If you
have a safe place to park your work vehicle, you can set up
video cameras or radar detectors during rush hour because
you don’t step on the road to install them.
14 LOCATION & TIME SELECTION

After the where/when of the data collection project has been

determined, you should notify the local police there will either
be people sitting next to intersections for long periods of time
or equipment sitting on the side of the road. Shortly after 9/11
part of downtown Boston was shut down by the bomb squad.

Why? A tube counter looked like a roadside bomb.

We have stickers made showing Traffic Data Inc, with our logo
and phone number on them that we affix to each piece of traffic
counting gear we install. These stickers on our hardware have
helped us on several occasions.

For example, one evening around 8 pm, a sheriff patrolling the

Federal Reserve building in Minneapolis called us about a camera
system he saw near the corner of the building, attached to a
street sign.

Thankfully, I answered the forwarded call and quickly assured

him the system was legitimate. We were working for the City
of Minneapolis, who we notified of our work, but the message
didn’t get passed on to the Federal Reserve.

I recommend having your company/agency name and

phone number on all your hardware, even if you write
them on the gear with a sharpie marker. You don’t
want to be on the news because of a bomb scare!
 LOCATION & TIME SELECTION 15

An additional benefit is that we occasionally get calls from

neighbors about our hardware too. I believe those calls help
avoid vandalism and also keep the cities we work in happy
because they don’t get the calls.

If you want to get sophisticated, you can develop a QR

sticker for your gear that sends people to a web page
explaining what the gear is doing and who you are (hat tip
to Traffic Data & Analysis out of Wisconsin, for that one).
16

STEP 2

PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION
Before the actual data collection, it’s important to prepare as
much as possible while still in the office so everything will
flow smoothly out in the field. Sometimes it may seem as
though the data collection process is quite simple, but going
out into the field without proper preparation can, and many
times does, lead to problems. It’s easy to get caught up in
the moment and miss an important step (especially if you’re
working in bad weather).
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 17

Early on in Traffic Data Inc’s history, while I was still employed

by the City of Maple Grove and doing counts as a side business,
I drove out after dinner to install a couple of tube counters
about 45 minutes from my house. When I got there, I realized I
had forgotten to put the tube counters in with the bin of tubes
and tools! My wife (along with my 8-month old daughter in her
car seat) drove out to bring me the counters after a panicked
phone call.

The use of checklists has made airline flight the safest mode of
transportation. A quick checklist would have saved my wife an
evening in the car (as well as my working at dusk).

Check out the Checklist Manifesto by Dr. Atul Gawande about

how checklists are greatly improving healthcare if you’re
skeptical about the power of checklists. The punchline is you
should use checklists.

ORGANIZING STAFF
Once you’ve determined the type of data collection you need
to do, along with the location and schedule, you’ll need to
coordinate the people collecting the data. If you need multiple
people to complete the data collection, the first task is to
determine how many people you need for the project. Then,
you need to get them scheduled.
18 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

AUTOMATIC COUNTS
(TUBE COUNTERS, RADAR COUNTERS,
MACHINE VISION)

For automatic counts, only one or two people will be needed to set
up and take down equipment. Only one person is needed to set up
a counter on a low traffic road (less than 1,000 cars a day). If the
road has more than 10,000 vehicles per day, two people should be
sent out for safety reasons — one experienced person to do the set
up with one inexperienced person to watch their back.

For roads with 1,000 to 10,000 vehicles per day, one vs. two
people teams are a judgment call based on the experience
of the people, the width of the road, and the time of day the
counter will be set out. Safety always comes first. When in
doubt, send out two people.

We recommend saving the data on each counter after

the count is complete. Then we like to clear the data
in the counter before its next use. Too much data in
the counter’s memory slows the data download.

Clocks should also be synchronized at this point to make

sure all the clocks are accurate. The clocks drift over time in
electronics, plus it’s easy to forget to adjust the clocks after
Daylight Savings Time.
This procedure is best practice if you have older model tube
counters, but we removed these steps with our wayCount tube
counter which uploads its data from a phone app to the cloud-
based system and always has an accurate clock and GPS based
location. Our wayCount tube counter saves a lot of time by
streamlining setup and eliminating downloading in the office.

Ideally, the person doing the data collection will have

experience with the hardware you have. If they don’t, plan
on the project taking a little more time. Also, make sure they
have the appropriate manuals and a phone number for the
manufacturer’s technical support. If the manufacturer has how-
to videos online (like SpackSolutions.com), make sure the data
collection team watches the installation videos ahead of time.
It’s also important the data collection crew knows the scope of
the project they’re working on so they can make a judgment call
if an issue arises in the field.
20 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

They should understand the priority of their work in case

they won’t be able to complete it all. Give them explicit
instructions to call the engineer in charge if they see signs
for a concert, festival, road closures, etc. Clients and bosses
appreciate knowing about these situations and may choose to
delay or expedite the data collection based on the situation.

Early on in Traffic Data Inc’s existence, we were scouting for a

project we were scheduled to set up a couple of weeks later.
We happened to be in the area for a different project. Our
technician noticed signs saying the nearby interchange was
going to be closed in two weeks when we were scheduled to
conduct the counts.

We let the client know immediately, and we ended up doing

the project the next day instead of waiting, since the
interchange closure was going to affect the local traffic patterns.
The engineers involved in the project were very appreciative and
have been loyal clients ever since.

VIDEO RECORDING
In order to set up video recordings to be manually counted in
the office, one person needs to set up the recorders, and
then appropriate people will need to be organized to count
in the office. You can consider a second person on the setup
crew if you have more than ten cameras to install in a close area.
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 21

Otherwise, the efficiency gained by adding a second set of

hands is offset by the downtime driving between sites. A
second person isn’t needed for safety reasons since you don’t
have to enter the roadway to set up cameras the way you do to
install tube counters.

Procedurally, setting up video camera systems is like setting up

tube counters. You’re just going vertical with your gear instead
of horizontal. Once you have the videos, there are a couple of
options for extracting the data. The video can be sent out to a
service (such as COUNTcloud) to have the count data extracted,
or you can watch the videos in your office and extract the
data yourself.

If you’re going to process the video yourself, we

recommend using the COUNTpad/COUNTpro system
which allows you to watch the video at a variable
speed as well as pause the video to take breaks.
22 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

Unless the schedule is extremely tight, video data collection

will provide more flexibility than manual counts. It’s important
to assess how much video will need to be processed and
approximately how quickly the data processing crew will be
able to process the video. The hardware/software manufacturer
can help you estimate how many people a project will take,
as well as how to best process the data.

If you want to know more about video recording and

data processing, feel free to contact us by going to
SpackSolutions.com and scheduling a free 30-minute
consult where we can talk about your project and its needs.

MANUAL COUNTS
The most important part of a manual count is lining up
reliable staff to do the count in the field; and quite
honestly, it’s easiest to schedule and train full-time staff to do
so. If you’re using staff from a temp agency — which is how we
started at Traffic Data Inc — coordination should start about a
week ahead of the data collection date.

In either case, it’s best to give at least a few days’ notice to the
people who will be out in the field and to go through
your procedure.
People at the intersection doing the count with an electronic
tally board can get overwhelmed when traffic at the intersection
gets busy. The general rules we use are:

• One person can count up to 2,500 vehicles an hour.

• Two people will be needed if estimates show there will be

more cars than this or there are free right turn lanes.

PEAK HOUR VOLUME

You’ll need daily traffic volume data to estimate if the peak hour
volume is over 2,500 vehicles (commonly called ADT or AADT —
Average Daily Traffic or Annual Average Daily Traffic).

This data should be available on the state, county, and city

websites for busier intersections that may have over 2,500
vehicles entering in the peak hour. To estimate the peak hour
entering volume from daily volumes, add the daily volume on
the busiest leg of the major street to the daily volume on the
busiest leg of the minor street.
24 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

Then, divide the sum by ten, and you have a reasonable

estimate of the peak hour volume. Also, you’ll need two people
doing the count if the intersection has free rights turns. One
person can’t accurately count a whole intersection while
continuously keeping track of a free right turn lane.

NOTE: When I started my career, I was assigned to do

a count by myself at an intersection from 6 am to 10
pm. Welcome to consulting! The supervising engineer
came out and gave me a one-hour break over lunch.
It was horrible. I believe staff in the field shouldn’t
count any longer than three hours without a break.

PLANNING THE DAY

It’s important to make sure your staff understands the
project and their specific roles. Provide every data collector
with a map of the project area, and the time the collection
will take place. I recommend someone well versed in the
project meet with the data collectors in the field before the
data collection begins.

Meeting early will give the data collectors a chance to

ask questions and to make sure everyone is on the same
page. At this meeting, hand out the electronic tally boards
(or clipboards with a matrix to write in, which is the very
antiquated way of doing turning movement counts and not
recommended).
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 25

Our experience at Traffic Data Inc is it’s best to meet at a gas

station or fast food restaurant (with public restrooms) within
the study area about half an hour before the count is scheduled
to start.

You should have all the electronic tally boards programmed and
turned on at least half an hour before the counts are scheduled
to start. Handing out the boards and answering questions
should take about five minutes. Then give everyone five to ten
minutes for a quick trip to the restroom (for obvious reasons).
Then five to ten minutes for the data collectors to drive out to
their intersections and get situated.

We also like to meet back at the gas station or restaurant when

the counts are done to gather the equipment and discuss any
observations the data collectors may have made while out in
the field.

Counting in the field is taxing. Please be kind to your staff.

Keep this meeting brief so they can get home. If you only do one
or two counts per year, look into TrafData’s turn count app. The
plus side is it’s cheap, but the downside is you have to watch
your screen to make sure you’re counting accurately.

Tactile buttons on an electronic tally board, such as the micro

tally from Vehicle Counts, make it possible to count busier
intersections as the counting becomes more like typing where
you’re not looking at your fingers.
26 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

The complexity, inefficiency and potential inaccuracy of

using electronic tally boards in the field led us to develop
the COUNTcam system. If you do more than a couple turning
movement counts per year, I strongly recommend you
investigate video camera technology as it will likely
save you money in addition to making your life easier.

It’s important to make sure your staff understands

the project and their specific roles.

ORGANIZING EQUIPMENT
Every type of traffic data collection requires some equipment.
It’s crucial to have enough functioning gear before going out
into the field. Failing to pack enough working equipment can
lead to a failure in the data collection process.

Make sure your equipment is charged up and functioning

properly before leaving the office. It’s simple to pack enough
working equipment, but it amazes us how many panicked calls
our tech support at SpackSolutions.com receives from folks on
the side of the road with non-functioning equipment (very often
dead batteries).
Hardware needs to be routinely tested to make sure it’s working.
To minimize vandalism or the police removing your equipment,
we recommend you put your company phone number and
website on your hardware.

It’s better to receive a slightly annoying call outside of business

hours than to show up to pick up the gear at the end of the
count and find the hardware missing.

AUTOMATIC COUNTS
(TUBE COUNTERS, RADAR COUNTER,
MACHINE VISION)

Of all the automatic counters out there, tube counters are by

far the most used. Installation is relatively easy, and one person
can usually handle the installation, although two people make
installation faster and safer.
28 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

Here is our recommended checklist for

doing an automatic tube count:

Prepare. Plan ahead what kind of tubes to use.

Thicker tubes work well on unpaved gravel roads.
Thinner tubes are a lot easier to work with and get
the job done on smooth pavements. Also, make
sure the tubes are the right length to span the road,
without being unreasonably long. We discourage the
use of any tube over 60 feet because the air pulses
may not be strong enough to register in the counter.
50-foot-long tubes are the industry standard. Also, it’s
important the tubes are the same length on a two-
tube installation. The data algorithms are thrown off
by the air pulses resulting from different length tubes.
Note, tubes less than 35 feet long can result in strong
air pulses which might damage the sensors.

Test the Equipment. Vehicle Counts sells tube

simulators you can use to make sure your tube counters
are performing correctly. We recommend testing all
your tube counters at least annually. And of course,
it’s easy to test a drill by pulling the trigger.

Charge the Batteries. Be sure to fully charge the

counters ahead of time if they’re rechargeable or check
battery levels and replace low batteries if they’re not
rechargeable. Also, drills and any other battery powered
tools should be checked and charged.
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 29

There’s nothing worse than getting to the job site and

having to improvise because of a dead battery. After
dealing with this problem more than a few times, we
bring multiple batteries, a charger, and an inverter
in the work vehicle, just in case. Still, a dead battery
takes time to charge, which adds time to the project.

Label. Make sure each tube counter is distinguishable

from one another. You can do this by simply writing a
number on the side with a sharpie marker. Hardware
typically comes with a serial number, but this may be
too cumbersome to use as a way of tracking counters.
We choose to use the serial numbers on the devices.
You could choose to use the last five digits of the
serial number too.

Accessorize. Always bring extra tubes, and possibly

tubes of different lengths and thicknesses, just in
case. Almost any tube count will require the use of
the following: pavement nails, concrete pins, spikes,
nylon straps, tape, rope loops/mounting clamps,
locks, chains/cables, drills, hammers, and a crowbar.
Not having or running out of any of these things can
slow down the installation process and affect the
overall data collection.
30 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

Extras. When possible, bring a reasonable amount

of extra gear. We recommend bringing about 20%
more counters than needed. Sometimes batteries
inside some brands of counters inexplicably die, or
the counter gets banged around and doesn’t seem
to work right in the field. It’s nice to quickly move to
a different counter instead of trying to troubleshoot
while in the field. A situation may also arise where
you planned to use one counter, but the median is
too wide, and you need to install two.

For radar counters and machine vision counters, first make

sure there are enough of each counter, and you have the
proper accessories. Again, make sure all battery powered
equipment is charged up.

Keep in mind some equipment — such as machine vision

counters — are rather large and may require the proper
means to transport them to the project site.

A dedicated van with built-ins for the necessary gear is ideal,

but most of us end up working out of a makeshift survey
vehicle, or even a personal vehicle at some point. In 2018
we switched to a Chevy Volt to save on fuel costs, which is
possible because counting gear keeps shrinking. Working to
keep equipment organized in toolboxes and bins is a great way
to make the life of a data collector much easier.
VIDEO RECORDING WITH MANUAL
COUNTING IN THE OFFICE
If you’re setting up video equipment to record turning
movement counts, be sure there are enough recorders, cameras
and other accessories for each intersection you need to study.

Depending on the system you’re using, these accessories could

include SD cards (with adequate storage capacity), extra video
cables, mounting belts or poles for the camera, Velcro straps to
secure cords, a portable TV monitor, mobile phones with apps,
remotes, drills, hose clamps, bungee cords, locks, cables, and
chains. You might also want to use a ladder if the cameras need
to go on posts or trees.

Several companies, including SpackSolutions.com, sell complete

camera count equipment sets containing everything needed to
do a video count, minus the ladder and truck of course.
32 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

MANUAL COUNTS
We developed modern video camera tools to do turning
movement counts because we were tired of doing manual
counts at 6 in the morning. But if you only do one or two
turning movement counts a year, there are several ways to do
manual turning movement counts in the field.

You can do manual counts with a pen, paper and a stopwatch

(how Mike started his career), an electronic count tally board
(how Max started his career), a laptop computer with counting
software, or a smart-phone or tablet computer with a counting
application.

If you’re doing a low volume count with pen and paper, make
sure there’s enough of each, as well as enough functioning
watches or stopwatches to break up the intervals. Doing counts
with pen/paper is rare now, but in the old days, we’d make a
grid where movements were in the columns and time intervals
were in rows. Then we’d fill in the matrix in the field with hash
marks (we also had to call our friends on the phone with a cord
to make plans for the weekend). If you’re going to do one or two
low volume counts, we recommend you invest in an app such as
Trafdata’s Turn Count.

WARNING: in our experience, we found it difficult to

accurately count busy intersections from the side of
the road with an app or paper.
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 33

ORGANIZING PAPERWORK

It’s important to provide clear

instructions for staff and have
clear records of what you did on
every data collection project.

Preparing ahead of time in the

office can prevent confusion
and mistakes in the field, as
well as provide documentation
of what the field technician did
if questions arise about the data.

Start by coming up with a numbering convention, so every count

project has a unique site code. Of course, this site code system
can start at 1, but we use a more involved scheme to make
finding data easier.

OUR SYSTEM:
The first three digits represent the client (every client is assigned
a unique client number), the second two digits are the year,
the next two digits identify the project, and the last three digits
represent the specific intersection or automatic counter location.
34 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

This schema provides a unique number for every count we do

and helps us easily find files. This numbering system also gives
a sense of what the files are without opening them.

However, if you’re only doing a few dozen counts a year, then

this scheme is overly complicated. It’s important to develop a
numbering system and then use it every time.

AUTOMATIC COUNTS
(TUBE COUNTERS, RADAR COUNTERS,
MACHINE VISION)
When doing tube counts, we recommend you prepare a sheet
for each location where you’ll install a counter.
This sheet should include:

• A unique site code (entered in the office)

• An aerial image of the location (entered in the office)
• The location description (entered in the office)
• The hardware serial number (entered in the field)
• The configuration of the tubes or the device direction (entered
in the field)
• Install date and time (entered in the field)
• Removal date and time (entered in the field)
• A hand sketch on the aerial of the hardware orientation
(entered in the field)
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 35

Having the hand sketch of the hardware, and tube configuration

if it’s a tube count, gives backup information in case the person
picking up the counter is different than the person who set it
up. We like having the start/stop time written on the paperwork.

If the paperwork was screwed up or a file mislabeled, this

is redundant information you can use to sort out the files
by cross-referencing the times with the dataset. Radar and
machine vision setups require similar paperwork documenting
when and where the equipment was set up and taken down,
the orientation of the equipment in the field, and equipment
identification information.

Along with these individual sheets, a large map of the area with
markings denoting each setup location can be useful to have,
especially when more than a few counters are to be set up
around an area. Or you can choose to create an aerial map with
pins in a phone app your field techs can use.

At the moment, we prefer using paper to make sure the

forms are filled out, and we’re not dependent on an internet
connection. We will likely change to a completely electronic
system in the future. Check MikeOnTraffic to see if this book is
outdated and we have an electronic system for you to use (or
contact us at SpackSolutions.com).
36 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

VIDEO RECORDING WITH MANUAL

COUNTING IN OFFICE
Once again, we recommend you create an individual sheet
for each intersection you’re counting. These sheets are the
same as the above tube count sheets with two possible
changes:

SD card number if you’re swapping cards between

01 cameras.

The field tech draws a symbol for the camera on the

02 aerial with the direction the camera is facing.
 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION 37

Once the video recording is complete, the video will need to

be downloaded and checked. Screenshots of the video should
be made to indicate direction and street locations. These
screenshots should then be put on a sheet to keep track of the
video counting process.

This sheet should include the screenshot, site code information,

location information, information about where the video is
stored (on a certain computer or hard drive) and an area to
mark off the time periods your team needs to count.

We offer free Video Joiner/Uploader software, available at

SpackSolutions.com, which takes care of all these details for you.
38 PRE-INSTALLATION PREPARATION

MANUAL COUNTS
For manual counts, we also recommend having a data sheet for
each intersection you’re counting. These data sheets should
include a sketch of the intersection with all the appropriate
turning movements shown. The layout of the data sheet used
will depend on the data collection method. These sheets should
include the site code information, date and time information,
location, the name of the person doing the count, and a serial
number for the hardware used.

We also recommended including some instructions on the

datasheet to inform the data collector conducting the count of
any important steps in the process. Of course, detailed maps
and instructions should be provided to the data collectors
ahead of time.

If two people are counting at one intersection with manual

count boards, putting masking tape over the buttons they’re
not using helps ensure each person counts their half of the
intersection. Make sure the boards and paperwork line up with
North or have instructions on how to do so.
STEP 3

HARDWARE INSTALLATION
SAFETY
Whenever doing any field work, safety comes first. Someone’s
life is always more important than any traffic count. Be sure
to follow local OSHA and DOT requirements and always stay
aware of danger while working in the field.
40 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

We recommend doing the following;

• Wearing reflective vests (full reflective pants/shirts if working

at night)

• Utilizing traffic cones to delineate a work area if you’re setting

up tubes

• Using flashing lights on the work vehicle

• Using two people to setup tube counters on busier roads

• Parking the work vehicle off the road if you’re setting up

video cameras

• Avoiding working on the street during peak traffic times

• Avoiding unnecessary risks (e.g., standing in the middle of the

road waiting for vehicles to pass)
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 41

Making sure data collectors are visible to motorists is very

important. Avoid areas where drivers or the data collector don’t
have enough time to react to one another, such as around sharp
curves, or places where visibility is an issue.

If road tubes are being laid down on a busy road, make sure the
installers take the necessary time to be safe. While it may be
redundant, make sure every data collector follows the rule we
give our children before crossing the road: Stop, look left, look
right, look left again, then if all is clear, start moving your feet.

Please, don’t take any unnecessary risks. Assume

drivers are texting, changing the radio, yelling at
the kids and drinking coffee — all at the same time.
Never assume they see you.

Unfortunately, safety extends to more than just avoiding

distracted or drunk drivers. Hailey in our office was setting up
cameras in a quiet industrial area, and a trucker pulled up in a
semi-truck, parked, yelled out the window telling her she was
cute, and then watched her finish the setup.

She told us about the encounter when she got back to the
office. We now tell all our staff to abandon a count immediately
if they feel any sense of danger. Losing some equipment is
nothing in comparison to something bad happening to any of
our co-workers.
42 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

A more lighthearted story - Hailey was setting up a camera in

a neighborhood when a rafter of turkeys started coming at her
(I didn’t know a group of turkeys is called a rafter before fact-
checking this). Several turkeys chased her into the work vehicle.
It sounds funny, but she was scared in this situation too. Talk
through these types of situations with your staff and be crystal
clear personal safety always comes first.

Lastly, ticks in our region carry Lyme disease. We keep bug spray
(and sunscreen) in our work vehicles to keep our staff protected.
Think through what may be needed in your region to keep your
staff safe and healthy.
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 43

DOING THE COUNTS

AUTOMATIC COUNTS: TUBE COUNTERS, RADAR
COUNTERS, MACHINE VISION)
When using automatic counters, set up should be done in
advance of when the data recording period is to start. Setting
the hardware early ensures there’s enough time to get all the
equipment installed plus extra time just in case there are any
equipment issues needing troubleshooting.

Often, installation can be done the day before data collection

is to begin which often means installing on a Monday (normal
weekday conditions are on Tuesday through Thursday in
most regions).

However, tubes can break over time,

so you may want to consider setting
tube counters on Tuesday morning
on critical projects to ensure you’re
collecting usable data immediately.

For items such as tube and radar

counters, find a place next to the road
on a straight segment where there will
be little chance of vehicles stopping.
44 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

If, for example, you place a tube counter too close to a driveway,
it’s possible vehicles may queue past that point on the road and
even stop on the tube. Slow moving and stopped traffic will lead
to inaccurate data and may cause the study to fail.

It’s good to keep in mind tube counters work best when traffic is
rolling over the tubes in a straight line and traveling at least ten
miles per hour.

More than any other kinds of traffic data collection, the way
tube counters are installed depends on the road type and
weather. Here are a few of those factors and what they mean for
a tube counter installation:

Initial anchoring of the tube to either side of the road:

Concrete curbs — Drilling into the curb,

hammering in concrete pins and then using
something such as nylon loops to attach the
tube to the pin is the best way to anchor tubes
on these types of roads.
No curbs — Driving an 8” to 12” landscaping
spike into the shoulder with a nylon loop
attached to it that wraps around the tube will
work as an anchor.

Asphalt – Driving a 2” to 3” ribbed surveying nail

into the asphalt pavement will work as an anchor.
Surveying nails are a nearly universal anchoring
solution, but the nails can come loose on high
speed/high traffic roads in warm weather.
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 45

Securing the tube to the road surface to prevent the tube

being pulled up by passing cars:

Paved and dry — Use tape to secure the tube

to the road. Some companies use sticky tar,
mastic tape. We don’t like it because it leaves a
big mess on the tubes and we prefer sticky duct
tape. Gorilla brand tape from Home Depot works
well. Place one strip of road tape 4 to 6 feet (1.5
to 2 meters) apart for the length of the tube.

Gravel, or when a road is too wet for tape —

Hammering in either spikes or pavement nails
with nylon straps wrapped around the tube
should be done at several points along the tube
on the road.

The number of vehicles, the speed they’re traveling, and the

width of the road will determine how much tape, or how many
loops are required. Also, make sure the tube lays tight to the
road to avoid it getting snagged on passing cars. We typically
place tape on the lane lines and in the middle of the lanes, so
about every six feet.

For anchoring loops, you can cut ¼” nylon rope into 18” lengths
and tie the ends. While there are several metal clamps and
loops on the market, we’ve found metal devices end up cutting
the tubes over time and are not worth the hassle or expense.
We prefer nylon rope loops as being gentler on the rubber tubes.
46 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

As mentioned earlier, we recommend using 50-foot-long tubes.

Short tubes can send strong air pulses to the piezo sensors
which damage them, and longer tubes can end up with weaker
air pulses the piezo sensors don’t register.

If the road is wider than fifty feet, place a counter on each side
of the road and anchor the tube ends in the center of the road.
To our knowledge, all tube manufacturers recommend 50-foot
tubes but check their documentation because the tube length
can affect the accuracy of the data collected. The location of the
tube counters will also depend on what there is to secure it to,
such as street signs, utility poles, trees, etc.

No matter what type of hardware you use, always make sure

to use chains or coiled cables along with locks to secure the
hardware to something on site. If parking is allowed on the
street where you’re setting up the counter, consider placing a
small sign informing drivers to not park on the tubes.

Orange cones can also be placed on the tubes to try to prevent

cars from parking on them, but you run the risk of the cones
getting stolen. Also, for tube counters, we recommended not
installing them during or around snowy weather, which often
means the presence of snowplows. Similarly, check street-
sweeping schedules. Street sweepers spin the tubes and break
them right off.
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 47

Below is our How-to Checklist for

road tube installation:

Placement — Secure the closed-off end of the tube

and then carefully pull the tube across the road. Pull
the tube, so it’s lying flat and straight but not overly
stretched, to avoid tearing the tube. Secure the other
end via spikes and nylon straps or concrete pins and
nylon loops. Don’t tape or strap it down anywhere else
just yet.

Connect — Plug the open end of the tube(s) into the

tube counter to ensure it’s working when vehicles
drive over it. If you’re doing speed, directional or
classification counts, two tubes will need to be placed
at a known distance apart. We typically install the tubes
two feet apart, but different hardware manufacturers
may have different recommendations, and you should
always check the hardware manual.

A single tube is enough to collect daily traffic volume,

but won’t provide directional, speed, or classification
data. If the tube counter is not recording, it may mean
the tube has leaks and will need to be switched out
with a different one.
48 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

Secure the Tube — Once the tubes and counters are

confirmed to be working, further secure the tubes to
the road using tape if possible or by wrapping nylon
straps around the tube at a few points and securing
the straps to the road with spikes or pavement nails.

Observe — Watch as vehicles pass over the tubes

to determine if the tubes are secure enough. They
shouldn’t be bouncing or swaying much when semi-
trucks go over them. High volume and high-speed
roads will need more securing with tape or straps than
low volume, low-speed roads.

Secure the Counter — After you confirm the counter

is working properly, lock the counter to a sign, post,
or tree and roll up any excess tube neatly next to the
counter.

Paperwork — Using the site paperwork previously

described, write down the location, layout, and time
you installed the tubes, as well as the tube counter
identification/serial number.
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 49

MANUAL COUNTS
When doing manual counts out in the field, the most important
thing is letting everyone know exactly where they need to be
and what they’ll be doing there. The second most important task
is making sure they get to their intersection about 15 minutes
early. This extra time allows the data collectors to get settled
and prepared and it also gives them a chance to see how the
intersection operates.

If there are several groups of people doing different counts

at several locations in an area, as mentioned before, we
recommended setting up a central meeting spot before and
after the count. At this meeting you can distribute and collect
count boards or sheets and make sure everyone is on the same
page regarding what they need to do, as well as making sure
they know how to operate the equipment they’ll be using.

It’s also a good idea to make and distribute signs to the data
collectors that say something to the effect of “Traffic Counting
in Progress.” The data collectors can put these signs in their
vehicle windows or doors if they’ll be counting from their
vehicles or next to them if they’re sitting outside. The sign helps
by letting passersby know what is going on and the person
sitting around with mysterious equipment isn’t up to anything
too fishy.
50 HARDWARE INSTALLATION

VIDEO RECORDING WITH MANUAL

COUNTING IN THE OFFICE
Video cameras installed at an intersection should typically be
between 30 and 50 feet from the edge of the intersection. The
installation distance may change depending on the specifications
of the system as well as the intersection geometry.

Typically, cameras can be attached to street signs, utility poles

or mature trees. Also, try to point the camera north so it won’t
directly face the sun at dawn or dusk because direct sunlight
can overwhelm the camera.

Once you find a location with a suitable view of the intersection

and properly install the camera, make sure to set the recorder
to record the proper time interval, and an SD card or USB drive
is ready to record the data.

Our COUNTcams record continuously to remove the chance of

programming the camera system incorrectly, which happened
more than we care to admit with previous models of camera
systems. Lastly lock up the recorder tightly and out of the way of
pedestrians.

Then use the paperwork previously prepared to record the

location, orientation of the camera, the field of view, the time
of installation, as well as the recorder, SD card or USB stick
identification numbers.
 HARDWARE INSTALLATION 51

HARDWARE REMOVAL
Once the data collection period has ended, you need to pick
up the equipment, which is usually a quick and simple process.
Be sure to pick up all the equipment, including all tape put on
roads for road tubes. Use the paperwork with the installation
notes to double check everything, mark the pick-up time, and
make a note of any issues.

Again, keep safety in

mind when working in
roadways or on the sides
of roads. It’s a good
habit to do a quick check
of hardware and tools
after pick-up (and after
installation). We’ve lost
more than one hammer
on the side of the road.
STEP 4

DATA PROCESSING
Once the data collection gear, or manual count sheets, have
been collected it’s time to extract and process the data into
a useful, readable format. Some data collection equipment
comes with software that can create reports highlighting
useful information or can quickly transfer the data into
an easy to use format. Either way, if this data is going to
a client, it will at some point need to be compiled into an
easy to follow format. Creating a report is a professional way
to deliver your company’s product and adds credibility to
the results. Remember to include your company’s logo and
contact information.
 DATA PROCESSING 53

AUTOMATIC COUNTS
(TUBE COUNTERS, RADAR COUNTERS,
MACHINE VISION)
For automatic counters, assuming all the equipment functioned
properly, data processing is quite simple. Tube and radar
counters usually have software associated with them to quickly
download the data from the counter and put it into an easy to
read format, such as a spreadsheet.

Add details to this document such as the street name location,

layout/orientation (e.g., radar counter height, tube spacing,
etc.), dates and times, and possibly a site code. Several systems
even allow you to include GPS coordinates or photos in the
document.

You may need to set other data preferences for the data reports
such as speed data, classification data, directional volumes, and
time intervals. The final reports generated from these software
programs often analyze the data and give useful summary
information such as peak periods and various percentiles for
speeds.

Since not all programs give this useful summary, you may need
to do some work on the data in a spreadsheet. For machine
vision video systems, you may need to upload the videos to a
cloud-based system for data processing.
54 DATA PROCESSING

VIDEO RECORDING WITH MANUAL

COUNTING IN THE OFFICE
You’ll need to watch the video and manually count the cars
if you don’t send your videos to a processing service such as
COUNTcloud. Depending on the system you use, there may be
a software program which allows data processors to watch the
video at various speeds and record the data using a generic
QWERTY keyboard. Better systems will come with an external
proprietary keyboard designed specifically for counting traffic,
such as the COUNTpad. If the company you’re working for
doesn’t have a system like this, the counts can always be done
with a counting board or on paper while watching the video on
a computer.

Using video instead of manual count boards in the field is a

good way to reduce the number of people you use on a project,
as well as to provide an auditable system for quality control.
Also, since the video speed is variable, it’s quite likely you’ll save
staff time doing the counting on fast-forward speed. We average
2x speed on intersections with traffic signals and 4x speed on
intersections with stop signs, meaning you’ll have a 50% to 75%
reduction in time you need to pay people to perform manual
traffic counts.

Some services, such as COUNTcloud will process this

video data for a small per hour fee. Using COUNTcloud
can further free up payroll, and staff, as well as allow
you to scale up easily for larger projects.
 DATA PROCESSING 55

Once the video is watched and turned into traffic count data, it
can be exported from the software or count board into an easy
to read format, such as a spreadsheet. Then, just like the data
collected from automatic counts, some labeling may need to be
done to include with the appropriate summary statistics.

MANUAL COUNTS
Manual traffic counts conducted with a counting board will need
to have the data exported to a readable format as explained
before.

Once you download the data, it can be labeled as needed and

a report can be created by either using the report generator in
the software or by exporting it to a spreadsheet to be manually
arranged later.

If you did the count with pencil and paper, it would need to be
manually entered into a spreadsheet and then arranged into a
readable report.

Because manual counts are extremely time-consuming, the

industry is moving away from manual counting to video-
based counting. Despite this, manual counts are still a good
option if you only do a handful of counts per year.
STEP 5

DATA QUALITY CONTROL

Before you send the data to your client or use it for your
purposes, it’s extremely important to check the quality. First,
check the summary statistics from the data report. Do they
make sense? If the report is saying the average speed on a 30
mph road is 72 mph, there’s probably some bad data in there
messing things up. For volume counts, scan through each
interval and make sure the numbers look reasonable to you.
For example, on a commuter road, are the big volumes going
towards the city in the morning and then leaving the city in
the afternoon? If not, there may be a problem.
 DATA QUALITY CONTROL 57

When the traffic counts are from multiple locations near each
other, the data between the locations should be compared to
see if they balance.

For example, if 300 cars leave intersection A going towards

intersection B, you should have about 300 vehicles at
intersection B coming from intersection A.

Intersection A Intersection B

It may also be a good idea to compare the new data to historical

data. A good resource is the city’s ADTs (daily traffic volumes). In
Minnesota, all levels of government are required to collect daily
traffic volumes on the collector and arterial roadways at least
every four years, and many jurisdictions around the world have
similar policies.

Comparing the new volumes to the historical volumes can

illustrate changes as well as point out possible problems.
Daily traffic volumes grow about 2% per year in our region, but
volumes can increase much faster in a developing area. When
the data doesn’t look correct, the first thing to do is to go back
and talk to the person who collected the data.
58 DATA QUALITY CONTROL

It’s possible they collected it incorrectly, and you can correct it

retroactively (e.g., they turned their count board in the wrong
direction, and you need to rotate north, south, east, and west).

If the data came from a video, another look at the video could
quickly confirm whether the data is right or wrong. For example,
we had a leg of an intersection with no outbound data during
the morning rush hour.

We reviewed the video and realized the data was correct

because the leg of the intersection with zero volume was from a
small shopping center which was closed in the morning.

This type of situation is one of the many reasons

the traffic data collection industry has been moving
towards video-based counts. If you can’t explain why
the data doesn’t look right, you should probably do
the count over to make sure you’re using accurate data.

A quick half hour recount from the video can save a lot
of headaches later. The ability to do a spot check is a big
advantage of using video instead of doing manual counts.
STEP 6

EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE
After getting the data collection equipment back from the
field, it’s important to make sure it’s ready to go for the next
count. Hopefully, your review of the data shows no issues.
But if you do find errors, you may have faulty equipment. We
recommend setting the questionable hardware up on the
road adjacent to your office for an hour or two as a quick
check. If the equipment keeps producing bad data, pull it out
of the rotation and either fix it or contact the manufacturer.
There’s no reason to test hardware every time you use it if
your data looks reasonable, but it’s a good idea to quickly
check the power and settings of all hardware before leaving
the office for a day of field setups.
60 EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE

To make sure you have power, we recommend putting

rechargeable hardware on chargers as soon as possible
after use. If your hardware has replaceable batteries, carry
spare batteries in your work vehicle. The number one tech
support issue we have at Spack Metrics ends up being dead
batteries, and it’s easily avoidable.

One item you should thoroughly check is road

tubes. Even if the data obtained from the road tube
was good in the past, tubes don’t last forever and
will eventually wear out and lead to bad data. We
recommend you physically inspect the entire length
of the tube after each use.

Look and feel for any nicks or tears in the tubes. If you find a
small nick, and it doesn’t look like it will grow or become an
issue, a small piece of tape can be placed around the tube to
stop it from growing. If you find larger cuts or tears, it’s best to
remove the tube from use. When the tear is near the end of the
tube, just cut it off and keep using the tube (you may need a
new end plug).

Just make sure to mark the tube in some way to show it’s an
odd size. Keep in mind certain types of tube counters require
certain lengths of tubes. If the tube has multiple holes near its
middle, it’s time to throw it away and order a replacement.
 EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE 61

Put the pressure gauge into the open end of the tube and use
the air compressor to fill the tube up to about 15 to 20 psi.
Watch and listen for about 10 seconds. If the pressure in the
tube stays constant and it doesn’t sound like any air is leaking
out, the tube is fully intact. If the gauge starts dropping, it
means there’s a leak in the tube. Another hand check while the
tube is pressurized is the best way to find this new leak.

If the leak is mid-tube, as mentioned before, it can either be cut

down or scrapped. If the leak is at the end, then the plug will
need to be replaced. If you don’t have a pressure gauge, tubes
can be placed in a bucket of water to see if compressed air put
into the tube leaks out and creates bubbles. A pressure gauge
is a lot less messy.

Several companies sell road tube simulators to test automatic

tube counters in the shop. We recommend VehicleCounts road
tube simulator. The simulator sends air pulses to the counter
in defined patterns. Then the counter’s data is downloaded and
compared to the recorded pattern.

It’s a good idea to do this at least once a year for all tubes and
tube counting equipment. Since this
testing equipment is often expensive,
it might be a good idea to simply rent
the testing equipment once a year
when the hardware won’t be in use.
RESOURCE 1

PRICING
A lot of data collection and consulting firms charge based on
time and materials, which usually includes an hourly rate per
employee as well as mileage, disposable materials, and a rental
fee for equipment. Based on client feedback, we went away
from this model early on at Traffic Data Inc and went with a
unit price per count. We developed a standard price list for our
metropolitan area based on unit pricing.
 63

We recommend tailoring this price guide to reflect

the cost incurred by your company, and with
consideration given to average travel times between
sites in the area. With the video based counting
system we use, we don’t think about how many
people it will take to do a count, as now almost all
our counts are done by one person.

Instead, we base our pricing on the type of traffic control. We

know counts at stop sign controlled intersections go faster than
counts at signal controlled intersections, and these go faster
than counts at roundabout controlled intersections.

A standard price list means we make a little more on projects

close to our office and make a little less on projects further
away. However, it makes our client’s job, as well as ours, a lot
easier. They can look at the matrix and do the math themselves.
They don’t need to call us until after they get authorization to
proceed from their client or have made their decision to go with us.

Just because we have a standard price chart doesn’t mean we

don’t sometimes change those numbers depending on the
job at hand. For large projects, we will discount our prices to
reflect the economies of scale.
64 RESOURCE 1

We also tack on a mobilization fee to cover the extra time and

mileage associated with counts outside of our metro area.
Since we’ve incorporated video based turning movement
counts, we’ve been able to lower our price for a 24-hour turning
movement count to what we used to charge for am/pm two-
hour counts at an intersection.

We believe longer duration counts provide much more

value to the engineers who are using the data. Also, the
incremental cost to add those extra hours is small now.

We also raised our prices on tube counts due to the inherent

costs and the low demand. Agencies in our region still do a
lot of tube counts, but they typically do them in-house with
their staff. On engineering driven projects, we’re nudging the
video-based counts, as they’re more cost-effective for both the
customer and us.

When developing your company’s price matrix, it’s

a good idea to factor in your company’s costs along
with the going market rates in your area. Ideally,
technology will improve lowering prices while
simultaneously increasing profit margins.
Someday, I believe 48-hour turning movement counts will be
the default. Both tube counts and two-hour peak period turning
movement counts will look antiquated. Right now, 13-hour
counts are the default in Minnesota, and there’s increasing
demand for 24 and 48-hour turning movement counts.

Someday, computers will replace humans doing the counts, and

the prices will come down even more. We expect week long
turning movement counts to be the norm before we retire.
RESOURCE 2

DATA COLLECTION
EQUIPMENT BRANDS
There are several options available for traffic counting
equipment. Selecting the proper type and brand of equipment
for your company depends on a number of factors. Good
questions to ask are: How many people are available to do
counts? How many people will be on staff full time? What types
of data do you need to collect? Who asks you to collect the
data? How quickly do you need the data?
 RESOURCE 2 67

Here are three good places to start your research:

TrafData.com
If you only do a couple of low volume turning movement counts
per year, we recommend the TurnCount app. If you do more than
a few counts per year, the CountCam from SpackSolutions.com is
probably a more effective tool for you.

VehicleCounts.com
If you only do a few tube counts per year, we recommend the
Pico 2500 tube counter as a cheap option. If you need four or
more counters to complete your traffic counting, the wayCount
counter from SpackSolutions.com is probably a more effective
tool for you. Vehicle Counts also sells a road tube simulator we
recommend for testing your tube counters accuracy.

SpackSolutions.com
I’ve been in the car counting business since 1993 and founded
SpackSolutions.com to create and sell the best traffic counting
equipment on the market. Go to SpackSolutions.com to schedule
your free consult call to see if our gear is a good fit for you. We
developed the COUNTcam, COUNTcloud, COUNTpad/COUNTpro,
Video Editor, and wayCOUNT all to meet our own needs.