Could it be!!! NON slip white road markings

The other week I was taking one of my motorcycles to be inspected here in Shanghai. On the way home it started to POUR, slow at first but buckets shortly after. I of course did not bring rain gear with me this trip...:eek2: ( rememeber saying " its just to the inspection station and back I dont need to carry anything")
In Shanghai at least, we all know even dry white lines on the road are slippery, not to say anything about them wet. I have had a buddy hospitalized for 2 months with head injuries after drivning over a zebra line during the rain.... They are just so damn slippery and to and fuel to the fire they tend to be "domed" or raised with sloping edges to make them almost guarenty that you will slip while riding, standing or even walking over them.

But I digress:confused1:,

As it was raining on me I continued to drive home and I approached a set of the those thick cross walk white lines (zebra lines) I tried to pick a path between them (the lines) on to clear black tarmac when someone blindy rode their e-bike right out infront of me in the intersection, braking hard to avoid the collision I feared the worse about to happen.... only to find they are NOT slippery.... say what:eekers::eekers::eekers:. Noticing that there was no slippage of any kind I looked back and down and saw some odd texture to the line. I asked myself could it be??? could the city actually do something that cost extra money, just for road safety for motorcycles (cars are unaffected by the slippery lines do to four wheels). Seeing that I was outside a large department store, I assumed that they had done it for insurance reasons and not the city.......

But then today I saw this on Wu Zhong Lu near Hong Qiao:

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Textured Zebra lines. Clearly not a mistake as all four crossings had them uniformly added to older lines. That right it was added only a week or so ago...

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You can see that the texturing is quite pronouced and the grip is solid ( I tested it with the TR today, the locals thought I was nuttz).
The texture material was not hard, but in fact more similar to rubber in the sense that it was slightly spongy. It did NOT have any sand in it or other grip enhancing grit but it was not slippery to the toach, again similar to rubber.

It seems that Shanghai is slowly getting it, the road sytem needs upgrading and I guess they are working on it, still it blows my mind to see it... Whats next motorcycle only lanes during rush hour....:deal: Yeah right:lol8:

Interesting. You're damn right about these things being ridiculously slippery. Great that Shanghai is taking the initiative. I'll be on the look-out for something similar in Beijing, but I don't recall seeing it anywhere.

The following pic is perfect. There's a very good chance that scooter would lose its wheel traction if the zebra crossing was wet, and it was the old style of smooth-painting.

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Originally Posted by Shanghaifingers

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I've come across the old-style, slippery markings on mountain roads. Several wide lines were painted across the road to indicate that a tight curve was forthcoming, and you should slow down. Sigh. Definitely not the traffic engineers' brightest idea.

You're waiting for motorcycle-only lanes during rush hour? I'm waiting for motorcycles-only within the 4th Ring Road. I guess I'll only have to live to be 300 years old.

Interesting observations and comments on the road markings. I was surprised that others in different locations have experienced differing experiences to mine when it comes to the road markings in China. I've found and always thought that the methods used here (certainly in Zhejiang) were far superior to the methods used in countries like OZ and NZ. In China, I've been somewhat bemused to find that the method used involves a hot flame to burn the marking into the road resulting in an epoxy type marking around 5mm thickness, and as such it is not just a slick paint surface as is used elsewhere.

In my experience riding round China, I've found the road markings to provide a much better adhesive surface even in the wet as compared to my recent 3 month riding excursion in OZ and NZ, where the road markings felt slippery even in the dry. Add just a smidgeon of water and they felt downright lethal. I found myself on many occasions wondering why it was that a developing country had better road marking techniques and technologies than some of the first world countries.

Ironically so. I also commented about the techniques and methods I've seen used here when I was talking with family and friends about all things China and the natural comparisons one makes and are asked about by those with inquiring minds.

I certainly don't go out of my way to ride on road markings any-time, especially in the wet (35 years riding experience) but sometimes taking the necessary avoidance steps can have some undesirable consequences. In China I've generally felt pretty comfortable with the road markings, especially in the dry but even in the wet. While I do try to avoid road markings in the wet any-time as riding on them still doesn't inspire the most reassuring riding experience - I've found the adhesive quality of the road markings in China feels a hundred times superior to that of the road markings in NZ and OZ, which if ridden on in the wet are often times lethal.

YMMV

I saw this today too. Strange. The material I felt was hard. It was like hardened glue or enamel. Hope it stays on long and they do the rest of the roads in Shanghai. I am still taking it slow on the lines though.