TRANSPORT: Wriggle Roads

A doctor once told City Traffic Engineer Ralph Dorsey of Los Angeles that in night driving a motorist’s eyes become so sensitized to the white stripe painted down the middle of many highways that he follows it automatically, is thus likely to be drawn into intersectional crashes. The doctor suggested that there should be a signal to the eye which would warn the brain of an intersection ahead. Last week, Engineer Dorsey’s idea of a good signal was amazing drivers at some dozen dangerous crossings in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley section.

For 200 ft. on each side of each intersection Engineer Dorsey removed the straight white stripe, substituted a stripe with a snake-like wriggle. In the white paint are millions of glass beads one twenty-thousandth of an inch in diameter, making the wavy line a streak of fire in the headlights. Observing that 64% of California crashes occur at night, he explained that it would take time to test his signal’s efficiency. Typical driver reaction was that of Fire Chief Ralph Scott. Encountering the wriggle for the first time, he snorted to his wife: “You know, I’m not drunk, but that line’s moving!’