rumble strip

[victor steinbok]

CA is not the only one. Actually, I wonder if "Botts dots" are not
occasionally used for "rumble strips". But there are other kinds of inserts
that are used on highways. Some have square outlines with two recessed
reflecting surfaces, leaving the regular white stripes "non-reflecting" (of
course, they reflect light--they're white!--but they don't have additional
reflecting particles mixed in, as they do in CA).

Oh, and, of course, there is the "grooved pavement" in places where the
highway surface is being stripped in order to be replaced. These are also
preceded and followed by "bumps". Not linguistically interesting, though...

VS-)

On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 4:41 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 2:08 PM, Eric Nielsen <ericbarnak at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Also used on the side of the road to shake someone into the awareness
> that
> > they're drifting off the road. Sometimes called "drunk bumps". Â For more
> > roadway word fun, there's also "Bott's Dots" :
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botts%27_dots
> >
>
> The article says:
>
> "Botts' dots replace the painted median stripes."
>
> Not IME in CA. They're placed on top of the Scotchlited median stripes
> and other lane dividers. Unfortunately, I haven't been to CA since
> '86, which, though it feels like only yesterday, was quite a while
> ago, in fact.
>
> "Reflective Stimsonite pavement markers are placed at regular
> intervals between Botts dot markings to increase the visibility of
> lane markings _at night_."
>
> They likewise increase the visibility of lane markings during the day,
> since they reflect the sun.
>
> --
> -Wilson
>

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