How do those cables they string across the road measure your vehicle speed?

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You know those cables they lay across the road to measure vehicle speed? How do those work? Is it accurate? What is the data used for?

In: Physics

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

They don’t track vehicle speed, the count how many cars pass over them.

The data is used to figure out how much traffic is going over a particular road to identify traffic patterns, determine light timings, which roads to prioritize repairs, etc

Anonymous 0 Comments

Usually they are more using it for traffic flow data, before altering a traffic pattern or timing traffic lights, or construction

Anonymous 0 Comments

if I am thinking about the same cables you are thinking about they aren’t used to measure speed they’re used to count how many cars are going across the road they use it to know how much maintenance or if they need to expand the road to handle more traffic.

Anonymous 0 Comments

I believe it has something to do with the difference in time between when your front and rear tires hit the cable itself. The less time = faster speed