system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 what the purpose of the black strips of wire/rope that I see from time to time across several lanes of traffic?
gpt
Those are pneumatic axle counters - there's a traffic study being done for that location, they want to see how many vehicles use that piece of road in a given time.  One at a place is necessary, more than one is backups in case one is damaged.  Vehicle crosses the rubber tube, the air impulse advances a simple counter in the box off to the side of the road.