‘Singing road’ axed after chorus of criticism
Netherlands safety scheme called ‘torture’
A “singing road” designed to cajole drivers in the Dutch countryside into obeying the speed limit was destroyed on Wednesday after inadvertently tormenting nearby villagers.
The provincial government of Friesland, at the northern tip of the country, installed a series of rumble strips in the road, each designed to play a note when a vehicle drove over it. Taken together, the 300-metre stretch of rumble strips played the Friesland provincial anthem.
But the strips only played the melody correctly if the motorist maintained the 60 km/h speed limit. If not, “then it’s horrible,” Friesland spokesman Gerrit Hofstra told the National Post. “It’s not nice to hear.”
The intent was for the singing road to act as a pleasant deterrent for speeding. Problem was, offending drivers were punished with an out-of-tune song once, while innocent neighbours were punished again and again.
Officials had no way of turning off the rumble strips at night. So the village of Jelsum was kept awake to the constant anthem, droning on, sometimes in the right key and tempo, sometimes not. One resident called it “psychological torture,” according to BBC News.
“Every night we hear the same melody,” said Hofstra,
EVERY NIGHT WE HEAR THE SAME MELODY. IT MADE MORE NOISE THAN WE ALL THOUGHT.
who lives in the area. “It made more noise than we all thought.”
“Some people couldn’t sleep. Every now and then a car is driving by,” he said. “So people get a bit crazy.”
The strips were installed on Friday, in part because the province had to test rumble strips and paint on the new tarmac anyway.
Also, it was seen as a way to celebrate the fact that Leeuwarden, the Friesland capital, was chosen as Europe’s cultural capital this year.
“Last Saturday night the taxis were driving from Leeuwarden to Stiens and on the way back, they tried to go across the lines as quickly as possible and we had the anthem played all night at high speed,” Ria Jansma told Reuters.
The complaints started almost immediately after the strips were installed.
At the launch, Hofstra, the government spokesman, said drivers laughed and waved as they passed, while confused locals started asking questions.
On Wednesday evening, the government silenced the singing road. It was six days old.