Arduino Code for: Low Cost-tech and no Tech Solutions for Assessing Likelihood of Impact for Tree Risk Assessment

Most tree risk assessment methods task the assessor with the evaluation of a trees’ likelihood of impact (i.e., the likelihood a target will be present if a tree fails) when determining the probability that an adverse event will occur. While this is generally accomplished in a qualitative manner based on visual cues, site occupancy, a key component of likelihood of impact, can often be directly measured with traffic counters. The use of traffic counters could potentially reduce risk assessment bias and increase reproducibility, though commercially-available devices may be cost-prohibitive. This work addresses one potential barrier to traffic counter adoption through the creation of a low-cost vehicle and pedestrian counting system. In this study, we compare the accuracy and consistency of a low-cost, homemade traffic counting system to estimates derived from a commercially available system, as well as, actual vehicle and pedestrian counts tallied by a hand clicker.