Driving is a skill that requires utmost concentration, with motorists required to be attentive to different aspects - the road itself, oncoming and overtaking vehicles and other road users.
On this premise, a section of Kenyan drivers plying the Langata-Karen route on Wednesday, March 8, spotted black tubes running parallel across the road and were curious about their use.
Kenyans.co.ke established that the cables are pneumatic road tubes, an essential tool in the road network industry.
According to the South Carolina Department of Transport, the tubes are made from hollow rubber, and monitor traffic flows in an earmarked road section.
The tubes count the number of vehicles by recording pressure exerted on the tubes by moving vehicles driving over them.
Michel Debczak explained that they transmit signals to a device mounted at the edge of the road, which tabulates every car that runs over them.
"Every time a vehicle’s tires hit the tube, it sends a burst of air that triggers a switch, which then produces an electrical signal that’s recorded by a counter device," she explained.
The tubes can positively identify the classification of vehicles based on the pressure exerted and the speed at which the cars are moving.
Singular pneumatic road tubes are laid when taking the count of vehicles per day, while tubes mounted in pairs collect data for up to seven days.
Researchers use the findings to ascertain how many vehicles use a road during various times of the day. This allows them to determine whether to adjust the roads or not.
Changes can include mounting and operating traffic lights, adjusting maximum or minimum speed limits, and establishing road diversions and expansion.
Notably, the pneumatic tubes are also used on roads where toll fees are collected, to corroborate the number of vehicles that used the road to the amount of money collected.
