Traffic Counts New Methods of Traffic Counting in North Rhine-Westphalia

In Germany the federal states are getting ready for a major traffic census in 2010. Normally this would be a manual census. However, some states, including North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Wuerttemberg, are developing new automatic concepts. As numerous roads have high traffic volumes special care has to be taken when selecting the system. Based on the results of a former study, new detectors were trialed for use on interstate ramps and high-volume roads. The results show a great potential and lead to the decision to go ahead with the automation of the coming road traffic censuses.