Road Safety for Snowing Weather

The Story:

Back earlier this winter, I realized the dangers of driving in the stormy Canadian weather.

https://d2v9y0dukr6mq2.cloudfront.net/video/thumbnail/1AjMdNf/front-car-window-view-winter-snow-fall-strong-wind-blizzard_41axfdz__F0000.png

As you can see here, or...rather..."As you can't see here", the road markings are nearly invisible.

https://www.firstsign.com/resize/Shared/Images/Product/Right-Winding-Road-Traffic-sign-W1-5R-30-clone/W1-5R_winding-road_S-curve_right_left_right_arrow_firstsign_com.jpg?bw=400&w=400&bh=400&h=400

If you drive, you know the lane that you are in isn't always straight. The lane can curve at any moment despite the road being straight.











https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/08071/images/image024.jpg

I was unaware of this once, and I ended in the left turn lane without knowing.


As you could imagine, I almost got killed because I was about to drive straight ahead onto oncoming traffic.

The Problem:

The problem here is visibility. The snow is white, the lane markings are white.

This means it is white on white. You don't need to be a designer to know that doesn't contrast well.

http://www.kazimirmalevich.net/White%20on%20White%20Kazimir%20Malevich.jpg

The Solution:

I thought to myself, why has no one thought of a solution.

Common sense tells me that black should go on white if you want better contrast. This would lead to better visibility.

So I ran a Google image search for "road markings black". Turns out in US states like Virginia, have implemented black road markings with 3M contrast tape.

This is not due to snow, but rather visibility under the sunlight where the white road markings are hard to see with the brightness.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/06jul/images/morena10.jpg

So why can't we implement the same thing to improve better visibility in snowy conditions?









Will it melt the snow? Hell no! But at least this simple solution could improve better visibility which leads to better safety, which leads to saving lives. That life, could be the life of a potential inspiring designer who is on his journey to write more blogs about design issues.

The solution is very simple and should be implemented.