# Black cables stretched across the road.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912 "2000-02-05T22:56:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/1 "2000-02-05T22:56:00Z")
What are these for? I see them around quite often. They’re stretched across road and connected to little metal boxes. I’ve been wondering for years. Do they measure the speed of the vehicles or the amount of traffic or what ? * * * The truths of religion are never so well understood as by those who have lost the power of reasoning. –Voltaire ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/2 "2000-02-05T23:07:00Z")
They usually are there to count traffic. They chart the number of cars versus the time of day on a graph. Peace, mangeorge * * * I only know two things; I know what I need to know And I know what I want to know Mangeorge, 2000 ---
**Author:** ![BigRoryG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@BigRoryG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigRoryG)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/3 "2000-02-05T23:08:00Z")
They’re too inacurate to measure speed. They are usedto measure the traffic so that the city can determine how often itis really worth doing work on the street and when the best time is. I believe once they find this out, they immediately throw it out the 8th story window and go to work on at the busiest time of ther year. Cheers. * * * “C’mon, it’s not even tomorrow yet…” - Rupert If you need a graphic solution, [http:\ alk.to\Piglet](http://talk.to%5CPiglet) ---
**Author:** ![JMSaSU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@JMSaSU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JMSaSU)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/4 "2000-02-06T00:11:00Z")
They are car counters. Whereever they show up a traffic light is soon to follow. ---
**Author:** ![DAVEW0071](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19b73/32.png) [@DAVEW0071](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DAVEW0071)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/5 "2000-02-06T01:34:00Z")
I thought they were just there to wear my tires down faster. * * * The Dave-Guy “since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/6 "2000-02-06T04:51:00Z")
Since I’ve mainly seen these near intersections, I’ve always assumed they were to help the powers-that-be make decisions about stop light timing. (i.e. how long to keep the green light on, whether or not to install a stop light, and so on.) ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/7 "2000-02-06T04:56:00Z")
They’re so bored people ( such as myself) can drive over and over and over them, thereby screwing up the data. * * * I’m not a fallen angel, I’m a risen demon. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/8 "2000-02-06T05:53:00Z")
## “They’re so bored people ( such as myself) can drive over and over and over them, thereby screwing up the data” —AzRaek So that’s what people up there do for entertainment. 😉 Actually, it would take you and a lot of your likewise bored friends quite a lot of trips to really screw up the data. But hey, altitude has that effect on people. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Who\_ME](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2bfe46/32.png) [@Who\_ME](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_ME)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/9 "2000-02-06T06:54:00Z")
They count the traffic and what time of day the traffic is the heaviest. Some companies use this to see it is worth putting a store in the area. Like a Burger King, ex. If you have a company and are thinking of putting a new store somewhere, you can have them set them up in a location near the place your looking at to see if it is worth putting a store in that area. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/10 "2000-02-06T07:08:00Z")
## Actually, these are touch down arresting wires for black helicopters. Don’t park near them. **\

Tris\** “Microsoft: Bringing you yesterday’s technology–tomorrow.” – \*\*traditional \*\* ---

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/11 "2000-02-06T16:24:00Z")
Helicopters don’t have arresting hooks. Actually, the black cables deliver an electric shock to some hapless soul every time a car drives over them. Usually the victims are people who talk about Black Helicopters… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/12 "2000-02-06T21:04:00Z")
I ‘accidentally’ parked with my rear wheel on one of the cables once. The next morning the cable was lying in shreds in the middle of the road. I guess it doesn’t like having one end anchored to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![tbea925](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@tbea925](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbea925)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/13 "2000-02-06T22:54:00Z")
Space alien penises. The boxes are miniature housing units for the space alien, so when it rains, they don’t get their brain wet. You may may have noticed that usually you see several of these black cables and boxes on whatever road you’re driving, a few hundred yards apart. That’s because these aliens with their penises casually extended over the road are taking part in their fraternity “hell week” activities. You may also notice that sometimes they will have a knot tied in them, and ask why they tie a knot in the cable. It’s because they can. Sometimes, you may see what looks like a white cable streched accross the road, although most of those only go part of the way accross. If you see one with a little weight on the end, that’s probably the alien formerly known as Prince Albert, trying to make it all the way to the other side. These aliens were specifically genetically modified to blend in with the earth types. In 1968, a pair of aliens walked up to a gas pump at a Texaco station in Eastern Kentucky, and asked to be taken to the earth leader. When the aliens received no response, one of the aliens drew their laser pistol and fired upon the pump, causing an explosion which landed the aliens on their behinds onto the hood of a Buick approximately 50 yards away. One of the aliens was heard to say, “You know, Fnord, if some guy can hang his prick over his arm and stick it in his ear, it just might not be somebody you want to fuck with”, although this remark may be apocryphal. The experience, however, did impress upon the visitors the need to adapt to the local customs. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/14 "2000-02-06T23:39:00Z")
Sometimes youll see two of them spaced just right. Those can measure speed as they measure the time from hitting one to the other. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/15 "2000-02-07T02:35:00Z")
Didn’t Bill Gates start out by building those traffic counters, or something similar? \------------------ rocks\ ---
**Author:** ![TBone2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@TBone2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBone2)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/16 "2000-02-07T04:40:00Z")
What you think of as ‘cables’ are actually ‘micro-overpasses.’ They may _look_ like cables, but they’re really walkways for the teeny-weeny bastards who are taking over the planet. ## I know this because I’ve talked to several of the li’l shits. They mean business! _I don’t know why fortune smiles on some and lets the rest go free…_ T ---
**Author:** ![Myndephuquer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@Myndephuquer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myndephuquer)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/17 "2000-02-07T17:01:00Z")
If there’s no one around, especially behind you, it’s fun / a challenge to lock up your brakes on those hoses. I haven’t destroyed one yet, but I’m going to keep trying… ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/18 "2000-02-07T17:16:00Z")
We saw these all the time when I was a kid walking home from school. The counter box had its display visible through a tiny window, and we’d delight in stomping on the cable and watching the numbers click by (1/2 click per stomp). I’d like to think I helped speed up the process of the county paving our street. 😃 * * * Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/19 "2000-02-08T06:27:00Z")
When you see two of them next to each other, they are being used as counters as well. Usually, one of the wires only crosses half the street; in this way, they count the traffic in both directions. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JoeyBlades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a87d85/32.png) [@JoeyBlades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeyBlades)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2000, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912/20 "2000-02-07T22:34:00Z")
Hey folks, just for the record, they’re not cables or wires, they’re rubber tubes filled with air. They used to use them at gas stations so when a car drove up to the pumps the attendant could run out and ask, “Fill’er up, Mac? Check yer erl? Knock 'dem bugs off de glass?”… oops… showing my age. Anyway, the traffic counters are the same, when your tire rolls over them it sends a puff of compressed air down the tube to a sensor. BTW, one summer as a teen, I had to run around reading these counters. I also had to sit at busy intersections with a clipboard and monitor the traffic patterns. Hey, it kept me off the street… well, not literally. They are not very effective at measuring speed, because you can’t insure linear speed or even traffic distribution between the sensors. Also, not all vehicles will render enough compression to trigger a count, very narrow tires will sometimes result in a missing pulse. Also, eighteen wheeler can get them confused. Plus, the hoses can suffer from deteriation that also affects performance. All told, they are not very reliable. There are more modern methods that are less expensive, more accurate, more reliable, and don’t annoy drivers. … More than anyone really wanted to know… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-cables-stretched-across-the-road/6912.md?page=2)