Mar 01, 2007

Two new standards developed by ASTM International Committee E17 on Vehicle Pavement Systems will provide uniform specification and test criteria for agencies and manufacturers that deal with traffic monitoring devices. The new standards, which are both under the jurisdiction of Subcommittee E17.52 on Traffic Monitoring, are E 2300, Specification for Highway Traffic Monitoring Devices, and E 2532, Test Methods for Evaluating Performance of Highway Traffic Monitoring Devices.
 
“E 2532 and E 2300 provide standardized methods for specifying and conducting acceptance tests for devices used to monitor and measure traffic flow parameters, such as vehicle count, speed, lane occupancy and vehicle presence, and vehicle characteristics such as classification, number of axles, vehicle length and vehicle height,” says Lawrence Klein, Subcommittee E17.52 member. Klein further notes that the goal of the standards is to provide guidance for harmonizing the procedures and test methods among user agencies and vendors that are being used to specify and then test traffic monitoring devices.
 
E 2300 describes the recommended procedure for identifying the performance and operating requirements to be included in a purchase order for traffic monitoring devices. The two test methods within E 2532 define acceptance tests for evaluating the performance of a traffic monitoring device according to the functions it performs, the data it provides, the required accuracy of the data and the conditions under which the device operates.
 
City, county and state traffic management agencies, as well as traffic monitoring device manufacturers and vendors and potential independent test providers, such as universities, will find both E 2300 and E 2532 to be beneficial. “E 2300 and E 2532 will allow fair and comprehensive performance evaluation tests to be performed on purchased traffic monitoring devices and potentially reduce the cost to user agencies for repeated testing of the same device,” says Klein.
 
According to Klein, all interested parties are invited to participate in the ongoing activities of Subcommittee E17.52. “We seek representatives from vendors, the user community and academia,” Klein says. “Although every effort has been made to draw on practical experience in developing E 2300 and E 2532, we are seeking assistance in providing a test site and equipment to further apply the test methods contained in E 2532.” Information from such a test site would provide insight for future revisions of E 2532.
 
The subcommittee is currently working on a proposed practice for installing inductive loop detectors. Future plans include the development of standards for installing other types of sensors such as video image processors, and addressing several issues concerning data quality.

ASTM International standards are available for purchase from Customer Service (phone: 610/832-9585; https://www.astm.org/contact/) or at www.astm.org.

For technical information, contact Lawrence Klein, Klein and Associates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (phone: 714/356-2275; laklein@flash.net). Committee E17 meets June 24-27 at the June Committee Week in Norfolk, Va. For membership or meeting information, contact Daniel Smith, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9727; dsmith@astm.org).

Release #7637