Citation

Hajek JJ, Billing J, Hoang P, Ugge AJ. Transp. Res. Rec. 1994; 1467: 38.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

So far, more than 2000 traffic lanes on North American highways have been equipped with weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales. These WIM scales provide and will continue to provide a large amount of data for individual highway vehicles, such as axle spacing and weights, vehicle length, speed, and headway. Because of their unobtrusiveness and continuous operation, WIM scales provide unbiased, statistically reliable data. The use of WIM data for investigating safety-related highway traffic flow characteristics is examined. WIM technology and its capabilities to generate traffic-monitoring data useful for transportation planning and decision making are described. Examples of data analysis that demonstrate the usefulness of WIM data for investigating safety-related traffic characteristics are provided. They include determination of truck exposure rates and evaluation of vehicle speed and headway distributions as a function of highway facility, vehicle type, daytime and nighttime conditions, and truck load. WIM data are useful in many areas of transportation planning, including safety-related traffic analysis, and should be considered corporate data and managed accordingly.

Language: en