Black wire on roads?

[aurora83]

What are those black wires that you sometimes see stretched across roads? They are normally in pairs.

I thought they might be counters, to see how much traffic passes through!

[Upforit]

Yep, that is what they are supposed to be. Counters. But with this government, and knowing there is always a 'black box' connected, what else are they doing?

[wildwood]

If you are thinking of jumping up and down on them with all your friends all night to make them think that it is a high traffic area and have the road upgraded, make sure you jump on both wires.

[SteveD]

Tube for traffic counters:

http://www.roadrunner-tca.co.uk/tube.html

[spudqueen]

We had one outside our house for a week whilst they counted the traffic that goes down our road.

[dzug]

I have also seen them (though for many years) as speed traps. They probably don't meet modern standards of accuracy.

They will be collecting statistics on the volume and speed of the traffic using the road.

[dzug]

that should have been NOT for many years....

[pelowskicoli]

dzug is right. They are not used for speed traps now but they can monitor traffic speeds and record when exceeding the speed limit is at it's most prolific so they then target with speed guns around that time... for traffic safety.....!

[admarlow]

they could have never been used as speed traps as the aparatus is totally unsuitable