To learn how European countries perform traffic monitoring, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsored a scanning tour of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. The review was conducted in June 1996, and the scanning team was specifically interested in the following areas of study: types of data collected; methods for data collection; organizational arrangements for data collection; equipment used and experience with that equipment; data validation efforts to ensure quality and accuracy; purposes for which data are used; and innovative reporting procedures. The executive summary of this report includes the findings of the investigation, first by highlighting innovative ideas that warrant followup or special consideration, then by listing other significant findings from the trip. The main body of the report is divided by country and by primary subject area. Innovative ideas are offered in the following areas: equipment reliability; use of traffic control systems and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) for data collection; ensuring cooperation in data collection; purchase of data collection services; truck data collection; standardization; weigh-in-motion (WIM) calibration; data validation; and performance information. (Author/publisher)
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