Historical Ramblings

Automobile Safety -- Reinforcing Common Sense

Article off the AP wire today (via Yahoo!) talks about a "new" program in Pennsylvania to encourage motorists to stay a safe distance behind the car in front of them -- by painting large dots on the roading indicating how far behind the car in front of them they should stay.

It's an excellent idea, or so preliminary data indicate. For my take, this will help avoid those rear-end collisions that are often caused by newer and poorer drivers (people who don't realize the stopping distance necessary). It will do little, however, to stop the problems caused by aggressive drivers. Aggressive drivers tned to be of the "I'm so safe nothing could ever happen" mentality, so will continue to avoid any indication that they are bad drivers.

On an unrelated note, this isn't that novel an idea -- my hometown of Gainesville, FL had these on 8th Avenue for years. They were at the bottom of a rather steep hill to encourage drivers to slow down when coming off of it.

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