US Town Painted Squiggly Lines on the Road to Prevent Speeding

Driving is a fairly dangerous endeavor. Speeding down the road in a 3,000-lb box made of metal and plastic alongside countless other speeding boxes? What could go wrong! We do have help from the various signs, lights, and lines on the road to remind us of the rules, but many consider those little hints optional. Will making the rules slightly more complicated encourage drivers to follow them? One Pennsylvania town is going to try.

Drivers in Montgomery Township, Pennsylvania, were taken aback when a new road design forced them to zig-zag through town. The traffic measure was installed to combat speeding, something that has become a concerning trend in the area, the local police department said in a Facebook post explaining the change.

Taking one look at the new lines makes it pretty clear just how goofy the attempt to thwart speeders actually is. The squiggly lines are essentially trying to do the work of a speed bump without the physical obstacle in the road. I’d argue that placing a handful of bumps on the road would more effectively stop speeders, who’d risk damaging their cars by charging over them at full speed.

CBS News spoke with locals who voiced concerns about the lines, with one referring to them as an “eyesore” and another saying that “it’s awkward.” One person even said she noticed that everyone was just driving straight as if it were a regular road and not even paying attention to the new “path,” making it even more dangerous.

I recall something very similar (though not quite this odd) happening in a New Jersey town near my home. Instead of zig-zag lines, there was a fancy brick path set up just before a light to cut down people speeding around the curve to beat the light. The problem is that literally no one actually drove around the flat brick path. They just drove over it as if it weren’t there. So I fully believe the woman who said people are blatantly ignoring those zig-zag lines.

The local police department explained they would also be adding “delineators” to the road and that this is the “best course of action for the area to ensure the safety of the local residents.” Early feedback suggests that might not be the case, and these zig-zag lines may not be around for much longer.