Hopefully the energy saving, safety enhancing roads in Holland will be more real than the mountains in the back of the picture (for the geography challenged: there are no mountains in the Netherlands).
Take a one-minute drive in the video below on an energy saving, safety enhanced highway that offers:
-
- Glow in the dark road markings that absorb the sun’s rays by day and emit light at night.
- Temperature responsive road paint that shows patterns of ice crystals only when the mercury hits freezing, warning the driver of skidding hazards.
- Motion sensitive roadside lights that switch on and off as cars pass.
- Pinwheel lights powered by wind from the draft of vehicles.
- Special lanes that charge electric cars on the go, using induction technology.
Must be from a country where car is king? The U.S.? Germany?
Try Holland, a land known for two-wheeled transportation rather than four - 18 million bikes outnumber the nation’s 16.7 million people - but which hasn’t forgotten about the automobile.
The novel technologies - some of which were featured in Tyler Falk’s recent “smart road of the future” and Charlie Osborne’s “smart paint” posts - are set for use in the Brabant province this summer (barring really freak weather, those ice patterns shouldn’t appear until a few months later!).
Video from NMANewsDirect via YouTube. Photo is a screen grab from same video.
More highways and byways on SmartPlanet:
- Here’s the smart road of the future
- Do the Dutch have too many cyclists?
- Bike accidents hurt: A graphic account of a champ’s wreck
- Smart paint lights your way on the highway
- Good idea: Heated bike lanes for icy streets
