Traffic data collection-automation of the national core census and the incorporation of dynamic axle weighing

The Department of Transport´s core census has been operative since 1979 and is a vehicle classification census used to predict trends in national traffic. The Department is in the process of automating this census by installing vehicle classification equipment at 100 sites in England and Wales; an additional 20 sites are being installed in Scotland by the Scottish Development Department. The classified data is collected automatically by a central computer. The paper describes the equipment used to classify and retrieve the data, the progress to date, the further development of the equipment and the future incorporation of dynamic axle weighing for which initial trials of weighing systems have been carried out