Job Check
Traffic Technicians
Conduct field studies to determine traffic volume, speed, effectiveness of signals, adequacy of lighting, and other factors influencing traffic conditions, under direction of traffic engineer.
10 main tasks · most important first
Your main tasks and AI
Importance- 01Study factors affecting traffic conditions, such as lighting or sign and marking visibility, to assess their effectiveness.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 02Interact with the public to answer traffic-related questions, respond to complaints or requests, or discuss traffic control ordinances, plans, policies, or procedures.Mostly human for now
- 03Prepare work orders for repair, maintenance, or changes in traffic systems.AI could speed this up a lot
- 04Plan, design, and improve components of traffic control systems to accommodate current or projected traffic and to increase usability and efficiency.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 05Analyze data related to traffic flow, accident rates, or proposed development to determine the most efficient methods to expedite traffic flow.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 06Visit development or work sites to determine projects' effect on traffic and the adequacy of traffic control and safety plans or to suggest traffic control measures.Mostly human for now
- 07Operate counters and record data to assess the volume, type, and movement of vehicular or pedestrian traffic at specified times.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 08Measure and record the speed of vehicular traffic, using electrical timing devices or radar equipment.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
- 09Gather and compile data from hand count sheets, machine count tapes, or radar speed checks and code data for computer input.AI could speed this up a lot
- 10Study traffic delays by noting times of delays, the numbers of vehicles affected, and vehicle speed through the delay area.AI could speed this up, with extra tools
Tasks from O*NET® 31.0 (US Department of Labor, CC BY 4.0, changed by us), most important first. “Already use” comes from Anthropic’s data on real work chats with Claude; “could speed up” from task ratings made with GPT-4 in 2023.
Four studies, side by side
None is a forecast of job lossToo little dataNot enough work use was seen to measure. This does not mean the job is safe from AI.Anthropic, 2026
46%of this job’s tasks an AI model could do in half the time, counting tasks that need extra tools as half (rated in 2023).Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin and Rock, 2023
Above 39% of jobsin how often and how well AI helped with this job’s work in Microsoft Copilot chats (2024 data).Microsoft Research (Tomlinson et al.), 2025
Above 60% of jobsin how much of this job’s physical work robots have been shown to do, from factories to homes (2026).Anthropic, 2026
Your human edge
The main tasks with no real AI use seen and no big speed-up expected. This is where your skill counts most today.
- Interact with the public to answer traffic-related questions, respond to complaints or requests, or discuss traffic control ordinances, plans, policies, or procedures.
- Visit development or work sites to determine projects' effect on traffic and the adequacy of traffic control and safety plans or to suggest traffic control measures.