The roads here suck in the winter. They get covered in snow, slush, and ice, which builds up around my tires as I drive, drastically reducing traction. This morning it was so bad I couldn't drive more than 35 mph on the interstate without losing traction and fish-tailing. I noticed that after I pulled over and knocked the ice off the tires with an old e-tool I keep in my trunk the traction greatly improved. I had to do this twice. I also noticed that driving on the rumble strip along the side of the road helped a lot, so...
My idea (my wife's, actually) is to have rumble strips running laterally across the road every hundred meters or so (maybe less) on roads that typically become dangerous during inclement weather. The purpose is to jolt the tires slightly with the rumble strip to knock the ice/snow/slush build-up off the tires and help prevent it from accumulating. This should help a lot with traction in winter driving. This might help during the rest of the year, too, when it may rain frequently. The lateral grooves running the full width of the road allow water to run off, so there won't be as much water on top of the partitions between the grooves, so if you hydroplane you'll regain traction when you reach the strip.-- 21 Quest, Jan 20 2007 <useless information> Germany has recently passed a law where every vehicle must be equipped with snow tyres between certain calendar dates. So they are all driving around Germany with snow tyres in warm weather at the moment.<ui>-- Ling, Jan 20 2007 I've got all-season tires on mine. Snow tires don't help much when there's a half-inch-thick sheet of ice covering the road. For that you need studded tires, which were sold out everywhere in this area.-- 21 Quest, Jan 20 2007 [+] This is a great idea. Plus, I'm pretty sure that studded tires are illegal in most places anyway.-- acurafan07, Jan 20 2007 BONE! And I'd give it another bone if I could vote twice!
The snow plow will cause ice and snow to get packed between the strips thus making the strips ineffective. Secondly, even though this might be great for snow and ice but it makes the road a real pain in the neck to drive on during the rest of the year when it isnt snowing. Third, snow building up on the tires is not a common occurance... at least not where I live but I could be wrong.-- Jscotty, Jan 20 2007 Perhaps the rumble strips could be made of ice. By an oscillating blade on the plow.-- ldischler, Jan 20 2007 Maybe there could be heating elements in the groves to keep the snow/ice from accumulating.-- BJS, Jan 20 2007 //The snow plow will cause ice and snow to get packed between the strips thus making the strips ineffective//
Doesn't seem to make the rumble strips along the edge of the road any less effective.-- 21 Quest, Jan 20 2007 Wouldn't this be like suddenly hitting a "washboard" surface that you'd find on a dirt road? It's been my experience that you get less traction when you drive over it.-- BPhilpotts, Jan 20 2007 Those "washboards" are called cattle guards.-- BJS, Jan 20 2007 Could they pop out of the road? With custard, perhaps.-- daseva, Jan 20 2007 random, halfbakery