Citation

Garner JB, Parsons DR. Highw. Res. Board bull. 1973; 456: 1-7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1973, National Research Council (U.S.A.), Highway Research Board)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The paper sets out to compare three methods of measuring journey speeds and flows. The methods studied are license matching, moving observer, and arrival output. In particular, the results obtained from the moving-observer and arrival-output methods were compared directly with those obtained from the license-matching method, which was taken as the standard method. Observations were taken simultaneously for each of the three methods at five locations. The locations chosen covered highways in urban, suburban, and rural areas and involved highways of varying design standards. A statistical analysis of the results showed that the arrival-output method, which is seldom if ever used, gives far more consistent and accurate results than the more conventional moving-observer method. Moreover, the arrival-output method can measure variations in flow over relatively short time intervals in addition to the usual hourly flows. The paper also shows that the moving-observer method and the arrival-output method involve almost identical cost, whereas the license-matching method is considerably more expensive. It concludes that there is no logical reason why the simple arrival-output method should not be used in preference to the moving-observer method.

Language: en

Keywords

TRAFFIC SURVEYS; HIGHWAY TRAFFIC CONTROL; STREET TRAFFIC CONTROL