What are those small black cables in the road when im driving?

Question

theres usually 2 and their about a foot apart what are they for? what do they do? their usually on one side of the road

Answer 1

They are traffic flow counters. They have several uses. The  2 hose type placed a foot apart can record how many cars pass over them, the direction of the vehicles on two way  roads, and the approximate speed of each car. The data is usually used by highway engineers in deciding whether to widened a road, or change traffic light patterns.

Answer 2

I'm not entirely sure, but I think they serve the purpose if informing the city, village, whatever how much traffic there is and when. It helps for scheduling road projects, re-zoning issues, etc.

Answer 3

if your talking about cables about an inch  or so in diameter. theres usually two and their coming out of a small box sitting on the side of the road their counting traffic volume, to see if the speed limit needs changed or they need a traffic signal

on the street somewhere

Answer 4

They measure your speed and if lots of drivers go over them

too fast hey presto a speed camera appears at that point a

few weeks later.

Answer 5

car counters or they trigger traffic lights

Answer 6

they count traffic and size of the vehicle the longer the vehicle the longer the rear wheels take to cross them

Answer 7

They are called traffic counters......

Answer 8

If it is one cable, it's counting traffic. If two cables, it is also clocking and recording speed. If the average speed is too high, you can expect to see speed bumps, cops with radar, or lower speed limit signs in the future.

Answer 9

actually they're rubber hoses , When your vehicle passes over them the air in the tube is pressurized and trips a counter inside the box thats at the side of the road. So the maintenance crews know how much traffic has passed that point in a given time so they can schedule improvements or repairs to keep traffic flowing .