EFFICIENT WEIGH-IN-MOTION |
Effective charging for
overloaded vehicles
Turkey has turned to weigh-in-motion technology
to improve the safety and efficiency of its roads
IWords | Kistler, Switzerland
ncreased road safety is a goal for
148 Intertraffic World | Annual Showcase 2020
Above: The
complete WIM
system near the
Akıncılar toll plaza
leading into Ankara
features Kistler
Lineas 9195G quartz
sensors and the
WIM 5204A
data logger
countries around the globe. With
this in mind, Turkey’s General
Directorate of Highways of
Turkey (KGM) decided to implement
a weight enforcement system on
its roads. During an initial testing
phase, Kistler’s weigh-in-motion
(WIM) system was installed at a
trial site by system integrator Mosaş
Group. Backed by support from a
team of Swiss specialists, Kistler’s
system is able to deliver reliable
measurement data.
Turkey’s KGM is keen to improve
the condition of the country’s roads.
In 2016, there were 7,300 fatalities on
Turkish roads according to the global
status report on road safety 2018
produced by the World Health
Organization (WHO).
Although road deaths in Turkey
have decreased steadily to an average
of 8.9 per 100,000 people of the
population in the last decade, this
figure is more than twice as high as
in central European countries. In
each year during the same period,
KGM had to invest double the
budgeted amount to maintain
the nation’s road network.
As well as controlling regular
traffic, Turkey’s local authorities are
responsible for overseeing freight
transport. They saw that
a weight
enforcement routine was necessary
to reduce the number of accidents
and to limit wear and tear on the
infrastructure. To achieve these
goals, around 100 weighing stations
were installed all over the country.
Every truck passing a station had
to stop and wait until its weight
was measured and approved.
There was no doubt that
this process was necessary,
but subsequent events soon made
it clear that there was also potential
for optimization. Traffic was slowed
down dramatically because every
truck had to stop at the weighing
stations. Long queues developed,
causing even more potential hazards
on the highways. In addition to this,
the weighing stations proved to have
relatively short lifetimes because
of the huge numbers of vehicles
using them.
Preselection with WIM
KGM now aims to improve this
situation by implementing a preselection
routine. It plans to install
WIM sensors that measure the
weight of vehicles as they drive over
them, generating data for this preselection.
In the future, trucks will
only have to enter the weighing
stations if they are above the weight
limit. Fewer lorries will pass through
the weighing stations, so traffic will
flow more freely.
To prove the theory right, KGM
invited various providers to take part
in a test phase. Participants included
the Mosaş Group,
a Turkish
company with over 100 employees
and more than
20 years of experience
| Need to know
• Turkey’s General Directorate
of Highways of Turkey (KGM)
decided to implement a weight
enforcement system on its
roads to improve road safety
• Around 100 weighing stations
were installed in Turkey so
every truck passing a station
had to stop and wait until
its weight was measured
and approved
• The complete WIM system
installed near the Akıncılar toll
plaza includes Kistler Lineas
9195G quartz sensors and
the WIM 5204A data logger