Written by Andrea Barnard Thursday, 04 February 2010 14:27
NEW technology from local company Metrocount aims to allow in-depth analysis of traffic signal activity, increasing road safety and transport efficiency.
Metrocount, based in Fremantle, has over 20 years’ experience and exports its products to more than 90 countries worldwide.
Acting on a request from Main Roads WA, the company devised the MetroCount® 5712 Timing Analysis Roadside Unit, which gathers vehicle and signal traffic data in order to create safer traffic intersections with fewer crashes and smoother traffic flow.
“The 5712 is used for working out what traffic is doing during certain sequences of a signal. So for instance you can measure the number of vehicles that go through on the red light but you can also measure the density changes of traffic during the amber phase, working out how fast they stop or how quickly they slow down,” Metrocount chief engineer and MC5712 developer Graham Foden says.
Main Roads WA called for technology that would combine vehicle movement recording and analysis with the phases of a traffic control signal.
To achieve this, MetroCount engineers researched ways of incorporating both traffic signal timing information and traffic flow data as recorded by a specially-designed microprocessor-based data logger.
“It’s basically a two channel device that measures the timing of two sets of inputs, so really all we did is leave one set from our previous hardware, which measures the traffic input, and modified the other slightly to be an optical fibre that can detect a light signal coming from a traffic light. It basically registers the times of the events and then the software figures out what’s going on,” Mr Foden says.
The MC5712 is easily installed at traffic intersections and level crossings. It records vehicle movement information on one channel and signal timings on the other, 24 hours a day, for as long as required.
Using purpose-built software, the traffic data can then be portrayed as statistical summaries, graphs and charts, each containing thousands of vehicle records. Traffic engineers can modify intersections and crossings to make them safer, more efficient and then measure treatment effectiveness.
With global clients such as road safety analysts, local governments and police forces, Metrocount chief executive officer and engineer Mike Kenny says the technology is designed primarily for researchers, with an emphasis on easy tailoring to specific traffic situations.
“The strongest thing is making the software easy to use, a lot of our customers aren’t primarily IT or computer people, they want the results and they don’t particularly enjoy messing about with the software."
Click here to see a diagram of the MC512 system.
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