The Department of Transportation is always trying to figure out ways to save lives and reduce the number of truck, motorcycle, and car accidents. We are just killing far too many people every year on our roads and highways than we need to. No, that’s not a debatable point of contention, but then again I doubt you’d argue with me on that anyway. Still, I’d like to take this conversation to the next level and speak to you about the challenge of inclement weather being a cause of so many accidents.
If you’ve ever been in a serious downpour, or driven your car in icy conditions you know how dangerous it can be. It gets even more dangerous when you are driving over very slippery and slick road markings. These road markings are there for our safety, and to remind us of some of the challenges. These days, crosswalk markings are quite wide. Unfortunately, if you hit your brakes coming into an intersection you are liable to start sliding sooner due to those markings when you hit your brakes, therefore it actually increases the chance of likelihood that you will get into an accident, rather than avoiding one.
Oh sure, it might prevent you and warn you from hitting someone in the crosswalk or making you aware that there are pedestrians in the area, but it during inclement weather it does just the opposite doesn’t it?
On SpringWise Online Innovation News on November 12, 2012 there was an interesting story; “In the Netherlands, bike paths heated during winter months – A test project in the Netherlands seeks to use the energy generated by the sun to heat bicycle paths during the winter,” which is a very wise idea, especially if you’ve ever cycled in very cold ambient temperatures in icy conditions.
Today, with nanotechnology it may be possible to take that concept one step further and create chemically reactive road markings to prevent sliding in icy a rainy conditions. In fact, it may be possible to increase the amount of friction, and stickiness as your tires pass over road markings. Do you doubt what I’m saying? You shouldn’t, because we already have this technology available, and it is used for other things.
