Speeding is always going to be a problem within small towns and neighborhoods. I live in a small neighborhood that serves as a cut-through in between another series of neighborhoods and the main drag in my town. People are always speeding through it. My neighborhood Facebook group is constantly debating whether or not to lobby for speed bumps to be put in or, as some of my more ‘old school’ neighbors continue to propose, having a police presence to hand out speeding tickets. The speeding really is a problem. A small Pennsylvania community, Montgomery Township, has also been dealing with a speeding problem. So, they got creative. Officials painted new lines on the road. They painted new squiggly lines.
Residents in a small Pennsylvania community aren’t seeing straight … lines. Montgomery Township officials announced on March 28 that it had added squiggly lines to a problematic road to prevent drivers from speeding.
“New lines were painted on Grays Lane with signage and the installation of chicanes (delineators) to follow,” the Montgomery Township Facebook page shared. “These traffic calming measures are being installed due to the numerous complaints/concerns we receive from residents about the ‘speedway’ Grays Lane has become.”
Although the statement, shared a few days before April Fools’ Day, emphasized that this real traffic pattern design was “discussed at length with our Traffic Engineers, Highway Safety Officers, and Public Works,” many residents and curious drivers everywhere still couldn’t believe their eyes.
“Did nobody suggest speed bumps? Looks like you gave creative license to a class of kindergarteners,” one person commented on the Facebook post, while another wrote, “Was the road crew drunk when painting this? Lol.”
Another Facebook user expressed that this was no laughing matter for bicyclists, commenting, “I assume the [Highway Safety Officers] have never ridden a bicycle, because if they did they would be absolutely terrified by this lunacy. Hopefully they remove it before a cyclist is killed.”
Addressing the concerned replies, Montgomery Township Public Information Assistant Ava Komasz reiterated that the changes are, in fact, real.
“In response to many of the comments, yes, this is a legitimate precaution that has been put in place,” Komasz commented. “Our Highway Safety Officers and Traffic Engineers have determined that this is the best course of action for the area to ensure the safety of the local residents.”
Holy moly. Those truly do look so trippy! Look, there are no bad ideas in a brainstorm, but who on Earth let this one get out of committee? I looked into the science behind the squiggly lines a little bit more and they’re supposed to mimic the effects of speed bumps without providing the physical obstacle. Someone in the comments of the People article says that they have those squiggly lines in Bulle, Gruyère, Switzerland, but I couldn’t find anything online to back that up. A small village in France tried a variation of this, and while it didn’t slow down traffic overall among locals, it did work for tourists, who were understandably confused by it.
I feel like speed bumps probably would have done the job here! My first thought when I saw this was that drivers will eventually get used to ignoring the lines and continue to speed. However, Montgomery Township is apparently planning on following up by installing delineators (plastic columns) on the road as well, to physically enforce the winding path. That is hardcore. They mean business.
photos via Facebook and Instagram/Montgomery Township, PA
