GPS coordinates 33°43.260 N, 116°13.040 W
If you were to look these GPS coordinates up, you will find the location of a plaque (pictured below) commemorating a woman who paved the way for road safety everywhere.
Imagine driving from place to place and there are no lines on the road to tell you which lane you are on. Now imagine going around a corner and seeing a 5-tonner coming straight at you from the opposite direction.
Without clearly designated lanes, the number of road accidents would be horrific. But there was a time when traffic lanes were not determined. Until this woman came along.
Dr June McCarroll: The Lane Changer
What she gave us: Traffic lanes
Dr June Robertson McCarroll was an American physician who was infamous for personally painting a set of white lines down the centre of a road after a near accident.
In 1917, she was driving on a California highway when she had to swerve to avoid a collision with a truck headed in the opposite direction.
Recalling the incident, Dr McCarroll said: “My Model T Ford and I found ourselves face to face with a truck on the paved highway. It did not take me long to choose between a sandy berth [sic] to the right and a ten-ton truck to the left! Then I had my idea of a white line painted down the centre of the highways of the country as a safety measure.”
Her idea to separate traffic on either side to help prevent accidents did not get a good response from the authorities initially. Thus, the fiercely determined Dr McCarroll armed herself with white paint and personally hand-painted a 4-inch stripe for more than a mile down the middle of Highway 99 (later renamed Highway 86).
When officials failed to act, even after seeing how the centre marking kept traffic separated and safer, she then put ink to paper and spent the next seven years petitioning to extend the white lines statewide. Finally, the California Highway Commission capitulated. By 1924, the centre lines were compulsory in the state, and this was soon followed by others across the country.
Thanks to that white line and her never-give-up approach, today we have other markings of different colours on roads and expressways that have improved the safety of drivers everywhere.
Lane markings are ubiquitous today but car manufacturers such as BMW and Peugeot have also added more driver assistance features such as steering and lane control assistant, lane change warning and lane departure warning, to help drivers on the road.
An example of the Ford Model T that Dr June McCaroll was driving (photo)
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Sources:
Main photo: Credit
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