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Saskatoon company tests new tire pressure technology

A Saskatoon-based company is testing some new technology that can detect the pressure of your vehicle's tires as you drive down the highway.

International Road Dynamics (IRD) has developed a small sensor to measure the amount of pressure wheels are putting on the road.

Terry Bergen, the company's president and CEO, said the technology is useful for dealing with some truck-specific safety concerns.

"The problem with truck traffic is the damage it causes to the roadways. When you get a high pressure zone on pavement, it causes rutting and accelerates the cracking in the damage to the roadway," he said.

"If you're driving down the highway with a lot of ruts, it's difficult to negotiate in and out of the ruts."

Bergen said the company's small sensor can be embedded on highways to detect things such as the foot print, the lengths and widths of a tire and the pressure it is putting on the roads.

The sensor can also detect trucks with a flat tire or vehicles with high pressure wheels known as super singles.