I've seen the number of induction coils increase drastically over the years in The Netherlands. They are quite easily recognizable, as there's typically a solar panel on a pole, that appears to provide power to the system.
Considering there's a wide variety of vehicles on the road, surely each variant must have (slightly) different characteristics when passing over the coil; especially when in a specific place at a specific time.
And given that they are situated at highway exits (see picture) or after entrances, and road users unable to exit and enter elsewhere, it would be trivial to track the bulk of a vehicle's trip.
This in context of ALPRs (in different forms) being in place at strategical locations (large junctions or at bridges or tunnels, and parking), and the address of vehicle's owner; you'd be able to connect the dots, and end up with a pretty complete picture.
If I had to guess there is probably a traffic light at the end of that off ramp. They're probably checking traffic patterns to determine the timing of the lights for high traffic times.
The solar panel suggest this device is not connected to anything, if it is connected to a traffic light it can share its power source.
This device just stores the number of cars passed in its onboard storage which will be retrieved later
I didn't say it was connected. I said it was helping them adjust the timers for the light. Many lights in my area aren't controlled by active sensors.
No, they are also at places where there isn't any traffic signals nearby.
Then it's probably a sensor to help plan road repair and development. They want to know how many cars are rolling through to budget accordingly.
Still not a privacy/freedom invasion, since the generated data is only useful for statistics. Except if the govt. requires you to add a RFID chip to your car soon.
And if it tracks your chips it wouldn't even need the sensor on the road