There were two main data collection efforts in this research. The first data collection effort was
collecting individual headway/time gap data. In order to collect individual headway data, a
number of options were investigated, including manual collection, loop detectors, laser-
based collection, video/image processing, and radar-based collection. These options were evaluated
with a number of goals in mind for the data collection, including the desire to have timestamped
individual vehicle data, especially speed, vehicle class,and lane assignments. Manual collection
was deemed too resource intensive, loop detectors could not be moved to different locations, and
no laser-based or video processing options were found to meet the goals of the data collection as
well as the selected option. In the end, it was determined that Wavetronix’s SmartSensor HD side-
fired radar detectors best accomplished all of these goals