Dubai drivers puzzled by 'traffic counters' taped to tarmac

The devices – which look like a flattened bottle stuck to the ground – collect traffic data at road junctions

The devices are used to record traffic data. Sarah Dea / The National

The next time you see a mass of tape and wires fixed to the road at a junction in Dubai, you'll know what it is.

The city's transport agency uses the crude-looking devices to measure data including speed, the distance between cars and the number of vehicles.

@rta_dubai what are these on the ground? #dubai pic.twitter.com/TLXzMctNcn

— Ahmed Zahir (@AhmedRocketLabs) October 28, 2019

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority responded to questions from puzzled drivers on Twitter, describing the units as "traffic counting devices".

In Europe, devices that resemble black rubber tubes are more commonly seen on the roads and are not dissimilar to the footfall counters often placed at shopping centre doors or on high streets to record shopper numbers and retail behaviour.