‘Rumble strips can save lives’

Recently driving on a two-lane road near my home I noticed a car coming toward me about 1-1/2 feet on my side of the road (or the other side of the center line).
I slowed and got to the right.
When the oncoming driver noticed the car was on the wrong side, she immediately recovered.
As the car passed me I saw the driver had her head down still being distracted.
If the road had “rumble strips” in the center that driver would have been warned she was heading to the other side before she got there.
In the 22 years I have been residing in Orange County there have been too many newspaper articles covering head-on crashes. A good number of them state “the cause of the crash is unclear; however, it appears one of the cars drifted into the oncoming lane.”
I feel the majority of these crashes could have been avoided with the installation of rumble strips.
Rumble strips are the indentations on the side of our highways heading to the shoulder. They also are known as sleeper lines or audible lines that can be placed in the center of the roadway and to either side of the driving lanes. I feel they should be at least one foot on either side of the center line.
When a driver is being distracted, the tires will reach the rumble trips before he or she gets to the center line, thus avoiding any drifting over and a head-on crash. The driver will also feel the vibration as well as hearing the sound the tires will make.
Besides saving lives and people being maimed, putting rumble strips in the road will create jobs - jobs that are desperately needed not only in Orange County and the State of New York but the entire United States.
Rumble strips can save lives.

Philip J. Smith
Monroe