Musical road is too loud
A musical road in California that plays a tune as cars drive over it is to be moved after local residents complained that the sound was keeping them up at night.
The road reproduces sound in a similar way to a vinyl record; a succession of grooves are cut into the tarmac and the vehicle’s tyres act as the stylus. The stretch of musical road in Lancaster, California plays the William Tell Overture.
Similar “melody” or “singing” roads have been built in Japan, South Korea and Holland.
Local reaction to the singing road in America has been positive with the exception of local residents who tired of hearing the incessant music. It is now being removed and reinstated on a stretch of rural road.
A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “These musical roads are little more than a tourist attraction, but on rural roads they might work as a novel traffic calming measure – the tune would only be audible if motorists drove within the speed limit.”
What is traffic calming?
Traffic calming is jargon for reducing speed; speed cameras and road humps are well known and not always popular, but small scale and sometimes temporary measures can be just as effective. People whose lives are blighted by speeding traffic occasionally take matters into their own hands to slow traffic in their community. Groups around the world have used imaginative methods to slow local traffic.
| Imaginative traffic calming | … at a glance |
|---|---|
| Balloons | Community groups in America place tethered helium-filled balloons in the middle of streets where children play |
| Cameras | Villages in England have built fake speed cameras to slow approaching cars |
| Concrete | New Yorkers created their own curb extensions to slow traffic speeds on corners |
| Paint | A resident in Northern California painted their own zebra crossing when the local authority refused to install one  |
Related article:
What is a street and what is a road?
Tips on how to reduce road danger
why we drive the way we do
What is the ETA?
The ETA is a not-for-profit ethical organisation providing motorists and cyclists with carbon-neutral breakdown cover and insurance products. As well as encouraging responsible driving to reduce carbon, the ETA campaigns for sustainable transport.
