Proposed simple low cost system for road traffic counting

Traffic congestion and the increasing number of vehicles is one of the major issues in most countries due to infrastructures with limited capacity. One of the finest solutions for road congestion is an intelligent transportation system (ITS) to be used for traffic optimisation. Most traffic management measurements are aimed at improving the safety and flow of traffic, reducing traffic emissions, and utilising traffic artery capacity more effectively. This paper proposes a simple low-cost system using cheap infrared sensors and timers for collecting the required data, such as number of vehicles and time and lane location information to be used in future traffic management systems. The proposed method can take the length and speed of the vehicle into account as part of traffic statistics.