Slowing Down Speeders

Reported October 2006

RICHMOND, Va. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- A site along a Lee Chapel Road in Fairfax County, Virginia, is in memory of 18-year-old, Jamie "Allie" Grimsley, who died after losing control of her SUV.

She wasn't the first to die on this road...

"We've had two fatal accidents over the years on this particular stretch of road," Bill Harrell, an engineer with the Virginia Department of Transportation in Richmond, Virginia, tells Ivanhoe.

Police believe high speed may have played a part in Allie's crash -- a common problem along this half-mile. When speed limit signs and expensive speeding tickets don't slow down drivers on curvy, dangerous roads like this, highway officials and engineers hope something a little different might get drivers to hit the brakes.

These new white lines, called optical speed bars, may do the trick.

Harrell says, "We want the traffic to slow down before they reach that particular section of road and then maintain that slower speed."

The series of lines is painted at decreasing intervals on the road. The markings give drivers the illusion that the car is moving faster than it really is, and the pattern of lines grabs drivers' attention so they slow down.

"The bottom line is to have another tool in our toolbox that we can use to try to influence speeds of traffic," Harrell says.

Does the illusion work? To find out, speed detectors will be installed along this road to monitor traffic.

The speed bars are in use and are being tested on roadways in New York and Virginia. Early tests show the bars are getting drivers to slow down.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Ann M. Overton
Public Information
Virginia Transportation Research Council
Charlottesville, VA
(434)293-1912
ann.overton@vdot.virginia.gov

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