I used to nail in the road but it made a complete mess of the road at times. I now drill a 6mm hole in the road and use concrete screws. There are many benefits to this system: Using nails leaves a hole which during the winter fills with water and then turns to ice which expands and damages the road. Fine in Australia I suppose but not in the UK. After removing the tubes I put the screws back in which seals the hole. The screws normally last 3-4 years so the tubes can be re-attached at a later date. I often found nailing in the road more dangerous as a few times the road disintegrated and hit me with stones in the face. (yes I was wearing safety specs) Your counters are second to none. I've used CA Profilers and Golden Rivers tube counters. They don't come close to the capabilities of Metrocounts 5600. The only draw back I think is the lack of a database like CA Traffic have (VDA). I'd like to see raw data being uploaded to one database rather than having several or at least being able to convert Metrocounts raw data files in to dmp format. You can do this in MTExec but it only converts itto one channel so can't feed it in to VDA. I was told there may be some legal issues but I wouldn't think CA Traffic having exclusive ownership of the dmp file format.
Yes, they can and they are very accurate too. Speed is measured by recording time stamps of axle hits on both tubes. Make sure you are using 2 tubes, installed parallel from each other and perpendicular to the road. Also, the distance between the 2 tubes needs to be the same as the one indicated in the software (1m by default).
Ok that is the most overcomplicated way to count traffic I can imagine. Just use an optical system that is placed next to the road. Nailing rubber hoses onto the road, come on...
horle Hi Horle, Thanks for watching our video. While the benefits of a simple optical system placed next to a road may initially seem obvious, in reality a range of road, traffic and weather conditions combined with the variety of physically varied vehicles present on a road create a range of issues when calibrating to ensure accuracy over the duration of a traffic survey. Optical systems also require more power limiting the battery performance compared to a passive pneumatic system. It would also be difficult to isolate a single lane of traffic without any reflector mid carriageway. Many systems that are optical and off the road have come and gone over the years, but never gained widespread acceptance due to inaccuracy. The MetroCount system is not simply 'counting traffic', it provides detailed speed, headway and classification statistics based on Axle Patterns. The MetroCount 5600 Pnuematic tube counter is one of the most widely used and trusted traffic survey products in the world thanks largely to its accuracy, reliability and range of reporting in our MTE software.
And then you'd need to analyse the video. Plus the fact you need at least 7 days to get a full picture of how the road is being used. And as Metrocount said that way would not classify speed and class.
I used to nail in the road but it made a complete mess of the road at times. I now drill a 6mm hole in the road and use concrete screws. There are many benefits to this system:
Using nails leaves a hole which during the winter fills with water and then turns to ice which expands and damages the road. Fine in Australia I suppose but not in the UK.
After removing the tubes I put the screws back in which seals the hole. The screws normally last 3-4 years so the tubes can be re-attached at a later date.
I often found nailing in the road more dangerous as a few times the road disintegrated and hit me with stones in the face. (yes I was wearing safety specs)
Your counters are second to none. I've used CA Profilers and Golden Rivers tube counters. They don't come close to the capabilities of Metrocounts 5600. The only draw back I think is the lack of a database like CA Traffic have (VDA).
I'd like to see raw data being uploaded to one database rather than having several or at least being able to convert Metrocounts raw data files in to dmp format. You can do this in MTExec but it only converts itto one channel so can't feed it in to VDA. I was told there may be some legal issues but I wouldn't think CA Traffic having exclusive ownership of the dmp file format.
I love it
are these tubes able to measure vehicle speed?
Yes, they can and they are very accurate too.
Speed is measured by recording time stamps of axle hits on both tubes.
Make sure you are using 2 tubes, installed parallel from each other and perpendicular to the road.
Also, the distance between the 2 tubes needs to be the same as the one indicated in the software (1m by default).
Ok that is the most overcomplicated way to count traffic I can imagine. Just use an optical system that is placed next to the road. Nailing rubber hoses onto the road, come on...
horle Hi Horle,
Thanks for watching our video.
While the benefits of a simple optical system placed next to a road may initially seem obvious, in reality a range of road, traffic and weather conditions combined with the variety of physically varied vehicles present on a road create a range of issues when calibrating to ensure accuracy over the duration of a traffic survey. Optical systems also require more power limiting the battery performance compared to a passive pneumatic system. It would also be difficult to isolate a single lane of traffic without any reflector mid carriageway.
Many systems that are optical and off the road have come and gone over the years, but never gained widespread acceptance due to inaccuracy.
The MetroCount system is not simply 'counting traffic', it provides detailed speed, headway and classification statistics based on Axle Patterns.
The MetroCount 5600 Pnuematic tube counter is one of the most widely used and trusted traffic survey products in the world thanks largely to its accuracy, reliability and range of reporting in our MTE software.
And then you'd need to analyse the video.
Plus the fact you need at least 7 days to get a full picture of how the road is being used. And as Metrocount said that way would not classify speed and class.