KINGSTON - The Ministry of Public Works (MPW) has recently acquired a set of COUNTcam 40 camera systems from a Minnesota based company as part of its efforts to modernize its traffic data collection capabilities.
They are portable traffic video recording devices used to facilitate rapid, cost-effective traffic counting for highway designs, intersection optimization and traffic monitoring.
According to Patrick Thompson, the Ministry’s Chief Transport Planning Officer the traditional method of traffic counting requires at least six persons in the field for a minimum of 17 hours to carry out a 16 hour intersection count. However, with the COUNTcam 40 camera system, only one or two persons would be required for approximately 20 minutes to mount and dismount the system.
Intersection counts, he explained, are usually collected during peak periods typically during the morning, midday and evening for a few hours at a time. The traffic data collected by an intersection count is used for timing traffic signals, designing channelisation, planning turn prohibitions, computing junctioncapacity, analysing high crash intersections, and evaluating congestion.
“The MPW also uses traffic data for the design and improvement of existing road segments, to study future traffic trends and assist in predicting traffic flows in the future and for project design and assessment of economic benefits arising from road improvements,” the Chief Transport Planning Officer stated.
One of the devices is about the size of an individual’s index finger and can be easily mounted on a street sign or a utility post. The mobile video recording system captures up to 40 hours of video on a single charge. Once the recording is completed, thevideo is uploaded to a computer via PC-TAS - the industry’s leading video viewing/counting software. Data is then exported to MS Excel or JAMAR’s Petra Pro where graphs, charts and tables are created and analysed.
“Essentially the new technology allows us to count more intersections in less time and have less of our human resource exposed to the elements for extended periods,” Mr. Thompson explained.
A four day training was recently conducted on the hardware and software modules including field exercises and was facilitated by Lacey Williams, Transportation Consultant and Managing Director of CARITRANS Company Ltd who has been utilizing the technology in Trinidad for a few years now. Eight persons from MPW, the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHB) and two Civil Engineering students from the University of Guyana benefitted from the training.
