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Effective charging solutions
for overloaded vehicles
Increased road safety is a goal
for 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 delivers 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 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 this
process was necessary, but
events soon made it clear that
there was also potential for
optimization. Traffic was slowed
down dramatically because all
trucks had to stop at the
| 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
086 Traffic Technology International September/October 2019
www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
> 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
weight measurement
and size control systems.
To evaluate the providers,
KGM set up several test sites
near existing weighing stations.
The location assigned to the
Mosaş Group is about 1.5km
(1 mile) from the Akıncılar toll
plaza on one of the main
highways leading into Ankara,
the Turkish capital. The
complete WIM system includes
Kistler Lineas 9195G quartz
sensors and the WIM 5204A
data logger. These rugged
system components deliver
high-precision measurements
over long service lifetimes.
Installation of the Lineas
WIM sensors in the road surface
is fast and easy. Two sensors
were installed in a staggered
layout on each of the two lanes.
After several runs with a
calibration truck, a maximum
deviation of an increase of 2.3%
was recorded. This was far
below the required deviation of
a 10% increase stated in KGM’s
specifications. Further tests with
different vehicle classes are now
in progress.
Project support
Kistler specialists were on
site to train the integrator on the
WIM system. If KGM accepts the
pre-selection method, a business
plan will be drawn up to
increase the budget before
deciding to install WIM at all
weighing stations. This is a
crucial step that will help to
protect Turkey’s highway
infrastructure and improve
safety on the nation’s roads.
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Above: Lineas quartz
sensor for Weigh in Motion
from Kistler
Left: Sensor installation
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
due to 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 measuring
the weight of vehicles as they
drive over them, generating
pre-selection data. 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, 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 and
knowledge in the sector. The
specialists at Mosaş provide
highly reliable technology and
engineering services with the
focus on road and railway
signaling, ITS, vehicle scales,
Kistler – Booth 322
/www.TrafficTechnologyToday.com
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