Abstract
A study was made to show how long automatic traffic counters, detector tubes or loop detector installations operated at permanent counting stations before any replacement was needed. The results show that although traffic counters have their own nominally weatherproof housings, the provision of additional shelter at permanent installations extended the life of the counter by well over 50 per cent in terms of days at site and by about 50 per cent in terms of vehicles counted. The replacement of pneumatic tubes by inductive loop installation produced a tenfold extension of detector life before any sort of failure. (Author/publisher)