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Whether people are drunk, distracted, dumb, or for whatever other reason they end up going the wrong way on a one-way road, it shouldn't take them too long for them too realize they're doing so. Unfortunately, however, the roads in the US are pretty ambiguous as to which direction they are heading.
One time when I was driving on a divided highway, I saw some signs which were facing the opposite direction and it caused me to freak out for a second. When I looked it my rearview mirror, I saw they were just signs posted up that said "wrong way." I realized shortly afterwards that this was probably the "wrong way" to indicate that people are heading in the wrong direction.
Take a look at this following image for example. Is there any way to tell if you're going in the right or wrong direction?
Nope, not really.
But a little bit of additional paint could make it a bit more obvious:
This seems like a simple and cost-effective solution, but is there any good reason why this isn't already being done? I'm sure it could potentially save a lot of lives, since high-speed, head-on collisions seem to be a recipe for disaster.
If there was a yellow line separating the two lanes that would be a big clue that this is a two-way road here. If that yellow line is dashed then you can pass cars in your lane, if it's solid yellow that means you must stay in your lane and not pass other cars ahead of you in your lane until the line becomes dashed again. Then you can pass cars again. This is designed this way to protect you in dangerous areas to pass, like a hill ahead or if you're going around a curve.
A more accepted and implemented idea is small reflector bumps in the road that shine bright red in the wrong direction. If you are crazy enough to try it (maybe start with on foot), head wrong way on Marquette Ave. in Albuquerque's Downtown- they have them facing eastbound traffic on the westbound ramp from the bridge from DMLKJANE.
It looks and feels really wrong when you see them and they're all red.
A more accepted and implemented idea is small reflector bumps in the road that shine bright red in the wrong direction. If you are crazy enough to try it (maybe start with on foot), head wrong way on Marquette Ave. in Albuquerque's Downtown- they have them facing eastbound traffic on the westbound ramp from the bridge from DMLKJANE.
It looks and feels really wrong when you see them and they're all red.
1. At some point they're going to have to re-stripe the roads anyway, and if they wanted to save on paint used they could make the lines/arrows a bit narrower. I can't imagine the cost of this being too significant, but then again these types of projects tend to cost more than one would expect.
2. I don't plan on testing this theory in that manner, but the idea would be for people to notice the arrows pointing towards them before they accelerate to higher speeds. I just came back from driving on I-40 going 65-70 mph and I was still able to very clearly make out each individual stripe in the road, and even if I were sloshed I think I would still be able to make them out.
3. The cat eyes seem like an interesting approach, but I'm curious as to what their cost would be in comparison to the extra paint on the road, and I'm not sure if they would be as effective during daytime hours.
3. The cat eyes seem like an interesting approach, but I'm curious as to what their cost would be in comparison to the extra paint on the road, and I'm not sure if they would be as effective during daytime hours.
Well, this is no test results of painted arrows on the roads. The cat's eye is originated in the UK in 1933 and is today used all over the world. Botts' dots research started 1953, compulsory in California from 1966....
A more accepted and implemented idea is small reflector bumps in the road that shine bright red in the wrong direction. If you are crazy enough to try it (maybe start with on foot), head wrong way on Marquette Ave. in Albuquerque's Downtown- they have them facing eastbound traffic on the westbound ramp from the bridge from DMLKJANE.
It looks and feels really wrong when you see them and they're all red.
I have, in a confused state, gone down the wrong way on a road before. It's always been in the midst of a city like Bellingham, WA, which has a lot of one way streets located in it. But to deliberately take the wrong way down an expressway (or any road anywhere, for that matter), even to view the weird "red dots", I don't think I could do that!
From what I've read, a majority of the head-on/wrong way incidents involved somebody under the influence. Seems like adding reflective arrows ETC to streets/highways is only going to prevent a very small percentage of accidents.
I agree, atxzj, little red dots aren't going to mean squat when someone's about to be arrested for driving while blind.
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