Traffic data collection and analysis

This synthesis will be of interest to traffic engineers, highway planners, and others concerned with the collection of traffic data for traffic engineering studies, for long-range planning, and for evaluation of traffic law enforcement. Information is presented on current practice in traffic data collection and analysis. Although types of highway traffic data collected over the past 50 years have not changed significantly, the quantities, analysis procedure, and presentations of these data have changed as a result of changing policies, operational concerns, and capabilities resulting from new technologies. This report of the Transportation Research Board describes the technology (both hardware and software) that is being used for traffic data collection, and discusses technological advances that have not yet been applied to the acquisition and presentation of traffic data.