First Glow-In-the-Dark Road Debuts In Netherlands

An anonymous reader writes "A 500 meter (0.3 mile) stretch of road in the Netherlands has opened without the standard crop of streetlights lining its perimeter. The streetlights are believed to be unnecessary since the road markings were painted on with a mix of photo-luminescent powder, which absorbs sunlight during the day and radiates a portion of that energy back at night. Whether the modified road paint can withstand harsh weather or even provide sufficient lighting given insufficient exposure to sunlight during the day remains to be seen. The project was orchestrated by Studio Roosegaarde, which in the future plans to implement weather-sensitive road markings that would inform drivers when outside temperatures drop or rise above certain levels."

Comments

waitwhat

[Johann Lau]

I started imagining this Route 66 of the future where technology jumps out of the computer screen and becomes part of us.

You took too much, man...

Re:waitwhat

[Anonymous Coward]

Wired is great at writing completely retarded shit.

Useless

[PPH]

We already have retroreflective paints. Road markings and signs illuminated by headlights are clearly visible. On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night. Streetlights are OK, but headlights are better. An animal or other obstruction will only appear as a shadow against a glowing roadway.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

While some uses of glow-in-the-dark paint are obviously hazardous (i.e. because there will be pedestrians crossing the road), this kind of tests is done on pieces of highway in the Netherlands. And there it's perfectly safe.

Or at least safe enough, as for animals it's easier / less scary to take one of the many ecoducts (a stretch of nature built as a bridge across roads).

Re:Useless

[Joce640k]

On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.

I wonder how we ever managed to survive before electric light...

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

You're not going to read a book or do rocket surgery but you can walk around outdoors without electric lights even when there's no moon. I've done plenty of hiking, etc. under a full moon.

Re:Useless

[Travis Mansbridge]

Yes, but today we are talking about driving.

Re:Useless

[FalcDot]

I believe that what he meant is that drivers "require some means of illumination at night" in order to spot "some things (like animals and pedestrians)" so that they don't run them over.

Re:Useless

[hankwang]

"you can walk around outdoors without electric lights even when there's no moon."

I doubt that you can do that comfortably if there are trees blocking the little star light that's available or if it's a bad road surface combined with you not wearing rugged boots.

Apart from that, especially women don't feel comfortable going around in dark places where they perceive that there can be rapists hiding in the dark.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Reflective paints are fine if you're driving at very moderate speeds. If you're driving with higher speeds on a long stretch of highway with oncoming traffic that potentially blinds you and doesn't allow you to use your high beam, it really helps if you can see the road stretch out in front of you and not just the short stretch illuminated by your low beam. It also builds confidence that you're not missing an unexpected turn and end up besides the road. Confidence is very important in safe driving, people that are not confident about their current situation on the road tend to do all kinds of unexpected maneuvers that can end badly.

Of course, there are roadside reflectors that could do roughly the same job, but their usage is often very inconsistent and often they're too dirty to be of any use. Roadside reflectors are also hard to clean (every reflector needs to be cleaned individually), whereas those lines could be cleaned alongside with the rest of the road.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Well , just paint the animals with reflective color, too. How hard is that ? C'mon man, some common sense.

Re:Useless

[reboot246]

You can drive when the moon is out, especially when there's a full moon. I've done it on lonely stretches of road. Just turn off the headlights and you can see pretty much everything you need to see. Of course you can't do it when there are other vehicles out and about.

Re:Useless

[dkf]

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

Which works just fine when it is cloudy (like it is quite a lot in the Netherlands). Oh, wait...

Re:Useless

[physicsphairy]

Maybe it's not the best for inner city roads, but on long highway stretches it would be awfully nice to be able to see the road far ahead. Especially on road with hills and curves, headlights do a fairly bad job of lighting up that reflective paint (other than what's immediately ahead) because often your car is not oriented so as to illuminate it.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought we had vagrancy laws against pedestrians?

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Idiot. You'll have to repaint them every time they moult or breed.

Genetically engineer them to glow in the dark and they'll reproduce themselves.

Re:Useless

[rtb61]

Meh, I driven down thousands of kilometres of unlighted roadway, even unpaved roads, dodging roos and wombats like most Europeans would dodge rabbits. Simply adjust road speed to conditions. Road side illumination should be generally restricted to built up areas and be more about restricting nefarious activities rather than traffic safety.

Re:Useless

[nctritech]

Parking lights are surprisingly bright too. Someone I know hit a deer that took out both headlights on a back country road, but the parking lights were still working. They drove home just fine on hazard blinkers.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

But the light-pollution actually makes it harder to see stars.

Re:Useless

[Woek]

First, this allows you to see how the road curves very far ahead, and without using the high beams. It works much better then reflective paint.

Second, this is not painted on the road, it is a special strip that is embedded in the road surface. They can also send a tiny bit of current through it to intensify the glow, which is especially useful in winters. It essentially cuts the energy requirement with a factor of a few million (a number which I just made up).

Disclaimer: I live in the Netherlands

Re:Useless

[AmiMoJo]

There is a lot of important stuff you can't see by moonlight alone. Animals, for example, tend to evolve to be hard to see. At least with headlights there is a chance you will see the light reflecting from their eyes, or their shape against the background.

Re:Useless

[AmiMoJo]

This paint isn't retroreflective, it actually emits light. Good to see the road layout as it enters a bend from some distance away, and the exit to the bend where you headlights aren't pointing.

Re:Useless

[Anne Thwacks]

In the UK, we have had "cats-eyes" since at least WW2. These are rubber blobs embedded in the road holding two glass beads that reflect your headlights back, showing the line down the centre of the road. On bigger roads, they are also used to mark the edge of the road, and on motorways, there are coloured ones (red/greeen) to show whether or not it is sensible to cross the line.

They seem to last about 20 years, and do the job brilliantly.

I have also seen "glow in the dark paint" before, but can't remember where (as in: which country), I think it was abandonned because it was not very good.

Re:Useless

[LWATCDR]

Sure on a night with a full moon you may see just fine. On a night with no moon and when it is overcast good luck. Also I live in Florida and in some areas I have hiked in even if it no overcast and there is no moon you are in trouble because of of the tree canopy. Full moon on sugar sand trails you are golden. It is so bright that you can read by it.
Back to the roads. I have driven from Mobile AL to Jackson Ms at night in the winter and I can tell you that those roads are darker than dark and just nerve racking even at the legal speed limit.

Re:Useless

[mjr167]

I'm not sure what this obsession with street lights is... We don't have street lights where I live and it's nice. We somehow manage to not run over children and animals, though the deer do occasionally hit cars. Stupid deer dashing out of the woods and running into cars... (cars never hit deer, the deer always hits the car).

As a result we can look up and see the sky at night and we don't have street lights shining into our houses in the middle of the night.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Not all roads are reflective. In most southern states, yep, the lines (especially the middle yellow one) is bright and shiny. In some northern states (I'm looking at you Alaska!), the middle yellow line is *not* reflective for HUGE stretches of the highway. When driving at night, you really are scared that the oncoming driver notices the faint regular-yellow-paint separator and stays on their side of the road.

Re:Useless

[FatAlb3rt]

We already have reflective paint.
We already have 256k.

Should be good enough for anybody.

Re:Useless

[Arker]

"Road side illumination should be generally restricted to built up areas"

Very true.

But the article is set in Holland. There is absolutely nowhere in Holland that is not a built up area, and it's been that way for centuries, possibly millenia. So it makes sense they have a lot of street lights. They have relatively little crime and if glowing markings on the road can be made to work reliably in that climate (which I suspect may take some time) it might actually make things safer. Street lights can blind but a soft red glow off the road would not.

Re:Useless

[fridaynightsmoke]

Much of the world has reflective road studs of one kind or another, and in the UK the foreign types (eg 3M's product) tend to get used now instead of the traditional Cat's Eye because they have better reflective performance, as well as lower costs. - http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/...

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

on the other hand sensitivity of your eyes decreases when you blast the surroundings with bright light. Outside of the cone of light you don't see shit.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but today we are talking about driving.

Did you even read the comment he was responding to? Well obviously not...

Re:Useless

[bill_mcgonigle]

your car is not oriented so as to illuminate it.

That's a good point - I tend to rely on my navigation device to get some forewarning of the curve and slope of the road ahead just because on a dark and winding road there's no way to see very far ahead.

Then again, glowing roads won't work to entirely replace this when the road winds around a hill or mountain. But more passive safety devices are still a good idea if they can help a little bit. It seems like rumble strips - they don't do anything for most people most of the time, but they do a great job for a few people every once in a while.

Re:Useless

[mcvos]

I can see just fine by the faint yellow haze that hangs over my city at night.

Re:Useless

[mcvos]

In the UK, we have had "cats-eyes" since at least WW2.

We have those too. Problem is that they only reflect light that shines on them, which means you don't see them until you're pretty close. I think the idea behind these glow-in-the-dark lines is that you can see the shape of the road much further ahead.

Re:Useless

[drinkypoo]

Maybe it's not the best for inner city roads, but on long highway stretches it would be awfully nice to be able to see the road far ahead. Especially on road with hills and curves, headlights do a fairly bad job of lighting up that reflective paint (other than what's immediately ahead) because often your car is not oriented so as to illuminate it.

You should never outdrive your headlights. If your lights aren't illuminating the road in general (to say nothing of the reflective line) well enough for you to drive at your present speed, you're driving too quickly and/or there is something wrong with your headlights. Otherwise, you're driving wrong. You can get away with that shit on a track, but part of driving legally on a road is always being able to see what you're doing. You are legally obligated basically everywhere to be able to see where you're driving, and to stop driving (or slow down) if you can't.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

and we don't need street lights for that since there are these things called headlights on all vehicles. However, streetlights are useful for pedestrians

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Confidence is a bad thing , if you are feeling scared you are going to drive safely ( reduce speed or even stop ) .

Re:Useless

[Tom]

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

If you give your cones time to adapt to night vision. Even a small bit of non-red light falling on them will ruin it instantly for about 20 minutes. Good look keeping night vision up in a car.

Re:Useless

[operagost]

The retroreflective paints only work if they are repainted every few years. If they aren't, then at best they become invisible when it rains. These electroluminescent paints won't be any different, and hence useless. The embedded reflectors that are becoming common in the northeast USA are far more durable.

Re:Useless

[operagost]

They're supposed to have these handy yellow signs that warn you of curves and steep grades...

Re:Useless

[mikael]

Maybe we could feed the animals food with extra glow in the dark genes. Maybe even the people too.

Re:Useless

[phorm]

I'd imagine that glow-in-the-dark animals would be at somewhat of an evolutionary disadvantage, but I'm sure the wolves wouldn't mind if all the prey animals were lit up like a birthday cake :-)

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

You can also drive completely and totally drunk. Many people have done it without incident.

Do you see how this isn't a good enough argument to do something?

Re:Useless

[houghi]

You call it useless. Do you have a study to show that it is indeed useless? Or should we wait for the actual results?

Re:Useless

[CBravo]

True, most of it. They are actually cutting down on public lighting after peak hours due to energy savings. They still light crossings but reduce it on lengthy parts where not much happens. Most inner cities, which are compact to US standards, remain lighted.

Re:Useless

[mjwx]

On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.

I wonder how we ever managed to survive before electric light...

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

You're not going to read a book or do rocket surgery but you can walk around outdoors without electric lights even when there's no moon. I've done plenty of hiking, etc. under a full moon.

The thing about starlight is that it's primarily reflected light from our own sun and this changes depending on which part of the lunar cycle you're in. I used to live in a small mining town 1500 KM from the nearest city (so its easy to find a place with no artificial light), you'd have times when it was pitch black and other times where you could see for a KM however the contrast was extremely washed out, so whilst you'd spot a person walking you'd have trouble seeing their face. Put simply, you'll have a lot of trouble spotting white lines on black roads.

Try doing your hiking under no moon and see how much light there is.

If this paint works as intended, it will be a godsend for anyone travelling remote roads at night, where I live there are thousands of kilometres of unlit roads.

Re:Useless

[AbsGeekNZ]

There have been many times when a little rain basically means that the road markings are invisible, with or without street lighting. Having the markings themselves glow would be very useful in that situation.

Re:Useless

[RuaisLampSilog]

And that is the whole issue. Driving. We are trying to fix something that is broken in the first place.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

My headlights already turn to point to the exit of the bend instead of straight ahead. Somehow, I feel it would be more efficient to mandate this as standard for all cars rather than trying to repaint billions of miles of roadway. It would also be a way to have the people pay for everything without realising it.
Of course, it would take years for most cars on the road to have this, but so will this R&D and painting.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Well too bad they're using green, and too bad that in 2014, you still post like you're on a 1953 Selectric typewriter. Just stop talking.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

No you aren't. You're just justifying your habits of driving 20mph under the speed limit in the fast lane. The cars that are speeding don't cause the problems, it's the one asshole trying to be different than everyone else that does.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Assholes would figure out a more annoying way of blinding you at stops by turning their wheels until their 500W blue HID's are shining in your face. Cause swag or some shit.

Re:Useless

[Neil Boekend]

Apart from that, especially women don't feel comfortable going around in dark places where they perceive that there can be rapists hiding in the dark.

Instead they prefer to so be blinded by streetlights that they can't see the rapist hiding a few meters beside the light spot.
People are counterproductive at times. Streetlight makes most of us feel safe, besides the simple fact that they decrease safety in most cases.

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Fear not, the crazy finns are already working on this!

http://yle.fi/uutiset/glittering_antlers_to_improve_road_safety/7094020

Re:Useless

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean like this? http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/18/finland-reindeer-glow-spray-night

Re:Useless

[PPH]

Road side illumination should be generally restricted to built up areas and be more about restricting nefarious activities rather than traffic safety.

Agree. But now you will run afoul of the AARP. Old people don't see well in the dark. And in the USA, until they actually need the white cane and dog, you can't take their license away. The megawatts of wasted lighting we install in this country is to keep the geezers in their Cadilacs.

As to the 'nefarious activity', that PR was created by the power companies trying to sell street lighting. Most criminals prefer to hit during the day, when they can see.

Re:Useless

[rtb61]

There are actually statistics which show a fall in crime rate with greater illumination in built up areas. The greater the illumination the greater the fall in crime, with a limit beyond which additional lighting provides no additional affect, so actual statistics along with defined light levels for particular circumstance, including street lighting, off street parking, retail and industrial.

Re:Useless

[s0nicfreak]

I wonder how we ever managed to survive before electric light...

We had horses that could smell and hear things like deer that were about to run into the road, and we paid more attention to our surroundings - which we were able to do because the horse and buggy were going about 5 mph rather than 60.

I don't know about the Netherlands, but I know that here people have a difficult enough time avoiding hitting animals during a clear, sunny DAY. I've seen many people fail.

Re:Useless

[s0nicfreak]

Also, an animal is more likely to see YOU and not run in front of the car.

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[Anonymous Coward]

All the pictures in TFA show illumination from headlights.

Tasteless joke coming in 3..2...1

[Anonymous Coward]

These aren't the first, they've had glowing roads in Fukushima for nye on 3 years now!

*ducks

Re:Tasteless joke coming in 3..2...1

[Anonymous Coward]

Glowing fauna too, so it's easy to avoid hitting that random wild Sika deer.

Nature

[tsa]

Most animals and plants who live alongside the roads will love this. Finally they can sleep in the dark!

Re:Nature

[drinkypoo]

Photoregulated plants don't tend to get all in a tizzy when illuminated by anything less intense than full moonlight. Anything that will is already being disrupted by headlights, which interfere with the long periods of darkness necessary for them to shift between modes.

Useless - rather make better headlamps

[invictusvoyd]

On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.

Right. Also, this cant work on overcast days . I really don't see the point of it . I'd say they'd rather invest that effort on headlight technology

Re:Useless - rather make better headlamps

[Anonymous Coward]

Right. Also, this cant work on overcast days . I really don't see the point of it . I'd say they'd rather invest that effort on headlight technology

If needed, it can be powered through electricity according to the Dutch news source.

Re:Useless - rather make better headlamps

[Anonymous Coward]

On the other hand, some things (like animals and pedestrians) require some means of illumination at night.

Right. Also, this cant work on overcast days . I really don't see the point of it . I'd say they'd rather invest that effort on headlight technology

I was thinking about snow. This is northern Europe, so aren't there going to be times when the luminescent markings are buried under the snow?

Streetlights don't have a problem with that.

Unless it snows REALLY deep, anyway!

Re:Useless - rather make better headlamps

[Anonymous Coward]

Snow is relatively rare in The Netherlands (a few days per year) and winter service on public roads is generally excellent.

Re:Useless - rather make better headlamps

[aardvarkjoe]

If needed, it can be powered through electricity according to the Dutch news source.

Perhaps by placing a lamp above the road...

take my tax dollars

[Anonymous Coward]

this is awesome

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[DarwinSurvivor]

All the "pictures" in TFA are computer renderings. For a road that, apparently, has already been painted you'd think they could have taken at least 1 photo of it.

eight hours isn't very long

[SimonInOz]

I used to live in the Netherlands, and I can confirm winters are cold and dark. Days are not very bright either. So an eight hour life (yes, I RTFA) for these very cool glowing roads is not going to cut it - nights comprise 16 hours of darkness in midwinter.
It should work well in the summer, when days are brighter and nights shorter.

But I think a backup is required, destroying the whole point.

But it does look very cool, doesn't it?

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[91degrees]

Most night driving is between sunset and midnight though. For the morning hours, this isn't going to help, but cars do still have headlights so we're no worse off than before.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[Anonymous Coward]

The Dutch article mentioned that the paint can also be illuminated by passing electricity trough it, to cover the long, dark days. This "booster" system is also primarily running from solar power, probably using a battery but that's not explicitly mentioned.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[geogob]

Yes. No one drives short before sunrise in winter.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[91degrees]

That isn't what I said or even something that I remotely implied. Of course they do. So how will not having illuminated roads in the morning make this any worse for them than not having illuminated roads at all at any time?

And how would these not working in the morning make them less useful to those who drive late at night?

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[Opportunist]

8 hours covers a lot of late night traffic. When it's dark from, say, 5pm to 7am, you can get to about midnight before the power is out. So what's left is the early morning traffic that's out of light, i.e. that has to deal with what we have already.

Still I'd consider it a boost in safety. The chance to be lost in the side ditch of the road with nobody coming by for hours is heaps lower at 6am compared to 1am.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Won't the lights of the cars passing by charge the lines a bit and thus extend the duration?

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[Anonymous Coward]

The solution for long winter nights is over a hundred years old: radium paint.
Makes "glow in the dark" sound more interesting, too.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[Anonymous Coward]

Won't the lights of the cars passing by charge the lines a bit and thus extend the duration?

Only on roads with enough traffic to make the whole thing unnecessary.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[excelsior_gr]

Forget about the sunshine, assume you have enough of it.

What about the snow? The road will have to be wiped clean every-damn-time when it snows even a little for the markings to be visible. Good thing there are no cliffs in the Netherlands.

Re:eight hours isn't very long

[maestroX]

Oh please. The Netherlands have a moderate climate, moderate lighting conditions.
Move anywhere north, east or south and conditions are worse.
Furthermore, in the west there's light emitting from greenhouses, harbors, highways (sodium-vapor) and residences.
The Christmas trees, they are hurting my eyes.

Video of the road

[Anonymous Coward]

Just found a video on dutch TV
http://nos.nl/video/634091-eerste-autoweg-met-glowing-lines.html

Re:video of the road

[Amouth]

Wish i had mod points, first useful example of the actual thing.

They do look quite nice, and i'd love to have them where i live, and if they can get rid of the light pollution by reducing the number of street lights i'd be all for them (and willing to pay extra for it too).

Personally i see more value in the temperature sensitive idea, i'd love to see coloration showing up on roads and bridges when the surface temps get down to freezing. Where i live we don't get a lot of snow and ice, but when we do it shuts the place down because people don't know how to spot, avoid, and/or handle it. Giving a visual indication that conditions are right for ice/black ice would be wonderful.

Re:video of the road

[iamweasel]

The last three cars I've owned have temperature sensors and would make a noise and display a warning on the dash when the outside temperature fell to or below 4 degrees celsius.

The temperature sensor may fail, but the road markings etc. will also fade / wear out and most importantly be obscured when there is ice on the road. Overall I think the paint would look nice, but be expensive to maintain and simply be a unnecessary distraction.

Incidentally I feel that way about the bleeping and the warning my car gives when temperatures fall, but at least the temperature sensor is mostly a one-time cost, rather than something requiring annual upkeep from public funds.

Re:video of the road

[Anonymous Coward]

Now that most cars give a warning when they sense that ground temperature is close to freezing, I am not sure it is all that useful anymore.

Re:video of the road

[Amouth]

For the temperature, it depends on where you live. If they are covered with snow & Ice then it is obvious, and if the temp is below 0C then it's obvious. but where i live we have a lot of humid wind and bridges. This means you can have black ice when it is 40F or below. funny thing about black ice is it doesn't cover up the road, unless you can catch a glare off of it you can't tell it's there till you hit it.

I think it would be nice to have a color change at least on bridges to show that the surface is below freezing, to warn drivers that there is a strong possibility of black ice.

wouldn't work for most places, but would be really useful for where i live.

Re:video of the road

[iamweasel]

I do live in a place where black ice occurs frequently. I also think most people driving around here are aware of the temperature and, with any experience, the driving conditions in that weather.

There are of course places where black ice occurs far more frequently that elsewhere, and yes, maybe in those places paint on the road surface could be more noticeable than a simple warning sign.

There was a corner near where my parent's live, which would form black ice very regularly. I would shout "black ice!" to people approaching by bike / motorbike when going to school, but almost everyone not aware of the tendency on that curve would wipe out anyway. Cars would skid until they found traction. A dangerous place to be walking around at times of the year.

For this to be (cost-)effective the places where black ice forms regularly would need to be recognized, cataloged and then painted on a regular schedule. Should this happen, then maybe this could be workable. Too many places with paint and it would offer no benefit since it would just be ignored, and most of the time a better solution would be to renovate those places such that black ice shouldn't form there anyway. As the paint was depicted in the article, as a continuous sea of snowflakes, it would only serve as a distraction making the road surface "too busy", possibly just distracting enough that you wouldn't notice something you really should have (like a kid walking to school.)

Freezing rain as a cause for black ice causes it to be everywhere and I think anyone traveling on a continuous sheet of ice is pretty much aware of it.

There might be a point for a application of the paint in some places where you cannot engineer black ice from forming, but as a ubiquitous road surface temperature gauge, not so much.

Re:Video of the road

[CdXiminez]

The man in the video mentions that, when daylight is insufficient to light up the lines, a tiny bit of electricity is used to make it glow.

Re:video of the road

[drinkypoo]

if they can get rid of the light pollution by reducing the number of street lights i'd be all for them

That, or install adequate reflectors on the streetlights. I mean, seriously, WTF.

Re:video of the road

[Anonymous Coward]

Dumbass, 40 below is both Celcius and Farenhoweverthefuckyouspellit

Re:Video of the road

[Neil Boekend]

A tiny bit of electricity times 135.470 km of public roads is a lot of electricity.
(disclaimer: that doesn't mean it's a bad idea)

Just use headlights

[Gavagai80]

Those of us who don't live in cities have been driving fine at night without streetlights forever. No special paint needed. Cars have headlights.

Re:Just use headlights

[Mashiki]

Those of us who don't live in cities have been driving fine at night without streetlights forever. No special paint needed. Cars have headlights.

I'm guessing you don't actually live anywhere that has serious wear and tear on their roads, otherwise you'd know that by the time half the winter is over that the paint is already worn down to the point where it's useless. And of course, if it's raining good luck on seeing those lines at all. Luckily HID lamps have helped with this, but don't get stuck driving on any Canadian highway anywhere between the months of: January(sometimes if it's really bad, this can hit as early as early November) through June when there is: Snow, rain, slush, mud, slop, dirt, or less than 50% sunlight.

And don't count on the shoulders to be a guide, because we don't really use them in most cases. Though if you're driving on a major highway like the 400 series(401,402,403,etc), some parts of the Trans-Canada, and a few other busy highways, we do have rumble strips.

Re:Just use headlights

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup!

I live in Nova Scotia and frequently work night shifts. During this time of year (the so called "pothole season") the highway I take to work (NS Trunk 7 if curious) is both poorly lit and littered with rim bending potholes. Occasionally you get the combination of potholes, paint that is long faded, rain, and no moon.. it makes driving a real nightmare.

Re: Just use headlights

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but now you can drive twice as fast without headlights while smoking weed!

Re:Just use headlights

[Viol8]

Most people don't live in a country with exceptional winter weather like that. For the relatively mild winters that northern europe gets and hence the reasonable state of the roads - headlights are fine.

Re:Just use headlights

[Gavagai80]

This is true, I live in California and the roads are good. Is the Netherlands that bad though?

Re:Just use headlights

[Anonymous Coward]

The weather conditions in the Netherlands are actually quite moderate. It hardly ever gets below -10 degrees C or above 30 degrees C. Snow is quite rare (a couple of days per year). Rain is abundant, though. Road damage due to winter conditions happens occasionally, but road surfaces, including surface markings, typically last many winters (10+).

Re:Just use headlights

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhh, we plow I-80 for 4 months of the year in Norcal, and we still have lane markings. Maybe you're doing it wrong.

Re:Just use headlights

[Anrego]

Meanwhile here in Atlantic Canada.. we're lucky to have a little asphalt between the potholes, let alone lane markings you can actually see at night/when it's raining.

And we totally are doing it wrong. Cheap paint, shoddy quick patch jobs that sometimes fail in the same day (I sat in a tim hortons looking out the window and watched in awe as a team poured some filler into a hole filled with water. The water was literally splashing out as they poured).

It's gotten so bad that it's actually a major news story here.

Re:Just use headlights

[American AC in Paris]

Those of us who don't live in cities have been driving fine at night without streetlights forever.

Of course, y'all have significantly more accidents than us mollycoddled city slickers, so you may want to reconsider the use of "fine" in this context.

Re:Just use headlights

[Triklyn]

but if they fix it, what will they do tommorow?

Re:Just use headlights

[CBravo]

Not at all. We probably have the best roads in the world. Silky smooth, hardly makes noise, very well maintained. I drove through Europe a while ago from the Netherlands to Italy and the NL was the quietest. We invest a lot in infrastructure and roads are part of that. The onlly thing that is not nice is the speedbumps.

I was in North Caroline a while ago and it reminded me of a bad stretch of Polish road. Canada is ok, given its two seasons (winter and road repair season?).

Re:Just use headlights

[DirePickle]

You're right, of course, but the markings on a wet road can be pretty much invisible even with headlights. If this helps that, I'm all for it.

Re:Just use headlights

[Mashiki]

Uhh, we plow I-80 for 4 months of the year in Norcal, and we still have lane markings. Maybe you're doing it wrong.

Last time I looked, Norcal doesn't use on average of 1ton of salt per 10 miles per road either, we do. Unless of course it's too cold for it, then we use sand or gravel. Yep it really does get cold enough here in Canada that salt and chemical deicers stop working on road surfaces.

Re:Just use headlights

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up Frenchie!

Re:Just use headlights

[Neil Boekend]

HID lamps should be illegal and the legislators who pushed for their legality should be arrested. Those damn things are dangerously blinding.

wile e. coyote will love this

[kylemonger]

I'm reminded of the Road Runner cartoon where the Coyote paints a stripe that leads off the roadway and into a rock face. Let's hope no one in the Netherlands both enjoys our cartoons and has a mischievous streak.

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[91degrees]

Thisis The Netherlands... I don't think they have rock faces. Or hills. Or topology generally.

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[Anonymous Coward]

They have some sort of topology. It's the distinction between above the ocean level, below the ocean level and still dry and below the ocean level and no longer dry ;).

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[GrahamCox]

Or a mischievous streak.

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[Tom]

Liar! They have water and they have land. What more of topology do you want? Ok, they sometimes turn the former into the later for no reason other than forcing all the map makers to redraw and all the encyclopedias to update the "land size" entry every few decades, but aside from that...

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[operagost]

Or anthropomorphic coyotes. Unless you got some bad weed.

Re:wile e. coyote will love this

[WuphonsReach]

They do have hills, just not very big ones. I'm not exactly sure what the relief scale is here, but Veluwezoom National Park has hills up to 110m in height.

video of the road

[Anonymous Coward]

there is a video of the road on dutch television. video of the road
It does look quite nice!

Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[bickerdyke]

...but the "Autobahn" in Germany never had any kind of electrical lighting (besides retroreflecting paint for the road markings) and even at night large parts of it are considered save enough to not have speed limits - even at night!

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[Anonymous Coward]

There is no speed limit for some roads, but there are still general rules about how fast you are allowed to drive (adjusting your speed to the conditions of the road, weather, etc.). You have to be able to stop in the part of the road that you can see for example, which excludes cruising along at high speeds with insufficient lights for your speed.

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[Anonymous Coward]

Many urban and semi-urban Autobahns have some lighting at night, especially around interchanges.

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm quite sure that the German population doesn't agree with you. They'll easily drive 100mph in full darkness running on the assumption that anything that's on the Autobahn will have lights as well and should be easy enough to spot from that.

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[Tom]

Uh... I am german and I've driven thousands of kilometers on the Autobahn at night. While long stretches of it do in fact not have lighting, the parts in or near cities often do. And that's where even at night you get some traffic.

But since the Autobahn has a mid-divider, there's really nothing that you need to see. You see the tail lights of cars in front of you much better in the dark anyways, and at 160 or 200 kph, a deer jumping in front of you isn't a problem of visibility.

Much of it all is, however, due to the specific design of the Autobahn. When you're on an Autobahn, you know with absolute certainty that there won't be any traffic lights, crossings or intersections. You know that the street was built to handle speed, so there won't be any sudden turns and twists, and if it turns by anything that remotely resembles a curve, there will be fat signs warning you of a "sharp corner" that is probably really dangerous if you go Mach 1. So even at 240 kph, the max I've ever driven at night, you feel strangely safe coasting down a road where your lights illuminate maybe the next 3 seconds in front of you.

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[bickerdyke]

I'm from Germany too, so I know the Autobahn quite well, too, but have hardly ever seen lighting there. (Except NRW) but that may vary.

And you wish it were 3 seconds.... at 150kph you're going at 41m/s. That's 120m in 3 seconds. Headlights go 50-60m up to 100m on the right side if - IF - you have assymetric headlights.

http://www.rechtslexikon.net/d...

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[houghi]

This would be great in those parts of Germany that are road but not Autobahn e.g Bundesstrasse. I had NO idea where the road was in Shleswig Holstein. (Which is flatter then The Netherlands) If there were no other cars, I had my high beams on, but if there were, the sight dropped enopurnously.
Sure there were lights at the crossings on one side, but which side?

Also: do not forget that this is a test. Itis only 500m. They will probably be testing if it sticks to the road or if it is pulled out after a few thousand cars. Also testing if it still works after a year and how well.

Re:Maybe that's intresting trivia to you...

[Tom]

Fernlicht goes further. At night in the countryside, you can often use it because you're literally the only car on the road.

Or maybe that's just me because when I drive long distances at night, I make it deep in the night so there's no traffic.

I've rarely driven through NRW, but at the northern edge to Niedersachen, around Osnabrück for example, there's definitely lights on the Autobahn. There most definitely are in Berlin, Hamburg, etc. But yes, it's mostly near and in the large cities.

deneme

[Anonymous Coward]

teekkürler saolun plastik dorama olarak her zaman takip ediyoruz

Glowing roads...

[Anonymous Coward]

Inspired by Tron!

Re:Glowing roads...

[Anonymous Coward]

I bet turning 90 degrees while driving 80mph is really challenging.

UK has had LED version for years

[hazeii]

Here in the southern UK we've had solar LED road studs for years - they are used on some A roads and mark line dividers, road edges and turn-offs in place of the usual cats-eyes. Work pretty well too (though I find them a bit 'stroby', like some vehicle brake lights).

Re:UK has had LED version for years

[fellip_nectar]

Yep, I remember the first ones installed near where I live were removed because they allegedly caused accidents due to drivers being distracted by them, because unlike regular cats' eyes, they're visible in the rear view mirror.

This will just cause more accidents

[iamweasel]

I guess that with this paint one is able to see the edges of the road more clearly, but I don't think that was ever a big problem with "just" retroreflective markings.

I think, that the light from these new markings will only blind you from things just beside the road (think pedestrians, cyclists and animals) which you would probably see better with just the headlights without something shining in your face. I mean try to see what's behind someone holding a flashlight in the dark. More light from the road surface will just prevent you from seeing the darker contrasts. That's why street lighting is installed above, not on the sides of the road, or on the road itself!

Some people also insist they see better when driving in the dark with their fog lights on... Yeah, you'll see the road surface right in front of the car better, but the extra light from the road just in front will only blind you from things further away, taking away your chance to react to something unexpected further down the road.

I think these markings are no replacement for street lighting and will simply just cause more accidents. For savings, it would be better just to turn off the street lighting and leave the existing markings as they were.

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[Anonymous Coward]

The Dutch article (http://nos.nl/audio/634119-het-lijkt-alsof-je-door-een-sprookjesbos-rijdt.html) has a low-res picture of it. The thing looks like a video, but is actually an audio fragment, but the picture is an actual picture of the 500m stretch of road.

Stealth Mode?

[SuperKendall]

Oh, wait, humans can actually see by starlight alone.

Not if you have headlights on, are you supposed to turn them off when you hit this stretch of road? And park for about fifteen minutes to dark adapt?

There is a distinct because-we-can factor

[jos7237]

Keep in mind that this guy is an artist first and foremost. The point of the glowing stripes is as much about how cool it looks, as it is about road safety.

Netherlands made many genuine road design advances

[Anonymous Coward]

but this isn't one of them...

If you want to emulate the impressive road safety and convenience of roads in the Netherlands, copy the good stuff, not the hyped stuff.

A simpler solution

[BetterThanCaesar]

A simpler solution would be to just let all the genetically engineered, glow-in-the-dark lab animals out in the wild. The roadkill will light up the roads.

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[Anonymous Coward]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bk4mNfMIEAAkefo.jpg

I don't think it's actually in use yet. It's still being set up.

I can see it now

[Anonymous Coward]

Tourists who have no idea, who came to amsterdam to take shrooms, and they step out at night and see glowing roads and think they're totally tripping...

Weather

[Triv]

Forgive a potentially stupid question, but how is this going to work with snow on the ground?

Re:Weather

[zwarte piet]

Hahaha, snow in Netherlands. Doesn't happen very often and when temperatures approach freezing they put salt on the roads before there even is that 1cm of snow. I know, terribly overorganized.....

Re:Weather

[careysub]

A snow covered road is unsafe to drive on for the general public (no 4-wheel drive and no snow tires/chains) - so removing the snow is generally a very high priority (plows and salt). The times when snow is covering the strip will be rare.

Re:Weather

[Neil Boekend]

That once a year that snow covers the road and the cleanup crews haven't been fast enough so it actually stays there (instead of turning into salt water) we drive a lot slower. Slower means you don't have to see as far ahead because you have more time to respond. It means the regular headlights are more effective.

Japan was first.

[some old guy]

I believe there are many roads in the Fukishima area that glow a pretty blue-green.

I don't like cat eyes of either type

[Viol8]

Mainly because they don't work as well as is claimed. Having a couple of dots of light every few metres isn't nearly as clear as having glowing road lines. I suppose however in their favour the eyes last much longer.

Another issue however with cats eyes is the effect they have on tyres. Its conveniently never mentioned by the govn but driving over hard lumps of metal in the road - even if they do squash down a bit - at high speed over the years when changing lanes will wear out your tyres faster and can I suspect even cause failures if the tyre is already on the verge of going.

Re:I don't like cat eyes of either type

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, of course if your tyres are unsafe due to excessive wear, a cats eye (or a discarded beer can, or a small rock) could cause one to suddenly fail.

Can you guess what the correct thing to do about that is?

Well you're not an American so perhaps you can - buy new tyres when the old ones are worn.

Re:I don't like cat eyes of either type

[Viol8]

Yes, very good. Except discarded beer cans and rocks arn't usually found every 2 metres on a motorway that you do 70mph on.

Re:I don't like cat eyes of either type

[JazzLad]

I see you haven't driven in the southern USA ...

Cloudy days no problem

[Anonymous Coward]

I dunno if it's in TFA (who reads it). But if it's cloudy the paint will be loaded by electricity I heard in the Dutch morning news Wakker Nederland.

old news and incorrect

[Anonymous Coward]

the special thing about the paint that if they put a small current trough it it actually starts emitting light so having dark days doesnt matter anymore

road side illumination

[Anonymous Coward]

Road side illumination should be generally restricted to built up areas and be more about restricting nefarious activities rather than traffic safety.

Also, where ever practible, around on- and off-ramps.

I personally don't see the point in having lights on most highways given that cars carry around their own illumination, and going straight and changing lanes doesn't need too much effort without lamps. But given the shuffling about just before, and just after, ramps, it's worth spending the resources to improve safety.

For the rest of the length of most highways (even those through urban areas): meh.

Re:road side illumination

[Gr8Apes]

Also, where ever practible, around on- and off-ramps.

I personally don't see the point in having lights on most highways given that cars carry around their own illumination, and going straight and changing lanes doesn't need too much effort without lamps. But given the shuffling about just before, and just after, ramps, it's worth spending the resources to improve safety.

For the rest of the length of most highways (even those through urban areas): meh.

The purpose of lights is to improve safety on high speed roads. Hence lighted highways. Otherwise, night time driving would have to be slowed significantly to be safe, unless you're driving with high beams. The oncoming traffic or the guy in front of you may not like that much, and even then, it's probably significantly slower max safe speed as compared to a lighted road.

Re:road side illumination

[Smauler]

The purpose of lights is to improve safety on high speed roads. Hence lighted highways. Otherwise, night time driving would have to be slowed significantly to be safe, unless you're driving with high beams.

Most of the UK's motorway network is not lit, and just about all of the dual carriageway network isn't either. In some places they're turned off after a certain time (usually about midnight). In quite a few places, they've got lights, but have stopped using them. You get used to it, and no one drives with full beams on. Technically you're allowed to use large A roads (not motorways) for all sorts of things because they're public rights of way, so you are allowed to walk down them, ride (either bike or horse) down them, even drive geese down them. The speed limit is 70mph, but generally people drive up to 80.

Re:road side illumination

[Gr8Apes]

Technically you're allowed to use large A roads (not motorways) for all sorts of things because they're public rights of way, so you are allowed to walk down them, ride (either bike or horse) down them, even drive geese down them. The speed limit is 70mph, but generally people drive up to 80.

So I guess those that drive geese down them at midnight wind up with lots of pate if this is any guide to effective lighting distances?

Re:road side illumination

[nukenerd]

I personally don't see the point in having lights on most highways given that cars carry around their own illumination

Street illumination is more efficient than headlamps both in the sense of lumens-per-energy-input and in the sense of effectiveness per lumen. In traffic, as in most towns most of the time, most of the headlamp lumens end up buried in the tailgate of the car 10 yards or less in front. The effect of most of what does not is to dazzle oncoming drivers. The most effective illumination is from above.

Of course there is a cross-over point. On roads with non-continuous traffic, lights on the car become more cost-efficient.

Light Pollution

[barakn]

Seeing as how all of the light is directed upward, this adds to light pollution, which some people blame a lot of problems on: http://darkskyinitiative.org/

Re:Light Pollution

[bill_mcgonigle]

this adds to light pollution

Assuming street lights are removed, does the upward light from these strips exceed the reflected light from the streetlights?

Re:Light Pollution

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but it's probably less than is reflected from the sodium streetlights they replace. Those things are bright.

Negative Review of this Idea from a Pro-Dutch Blog

[careysub]

This blog extolling Dutch road design innovation is nonetheless quite dismissive of the "glowing paint" idea, and mentions the use of glass bead retroreflectors (as in the UK) as a much better idea. It makes a good case.

I have a better idea

[RogueWarrior65]

Instead of using luminescent paint for the lines, why can't we imbed piezoelectric crystals into the tarmac that would generate light from the mass of the vehicle. That way you'd see this glow where the cars are.

Re:I have a better idea

[Ksevio]

That sounds a little pricey to pave the road with.

Roads with no street lights

[Anonymous Coward]

There are countless miles of roads in the UK that don't have street lights - even motorways and A roads - and although this paint might only glow for 8 hours, if it improves the safety of those roads for 8 hours longer... isn't that a good thing? Also, a lot of street lights in the UK are switched up during the middle of the night.

The main problem I see is that roads aren't well enough maintained... paint wears, is patchy and in many cases disappears entirely for months before being repainted.

A see a lot of you guys going "oh, well this is very good blah blah blah".... I guess it really is cool to hate.

Nice idea, but what happens when it snows?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice idea, but what happens when it snows?

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[Tom]

Someone posted a video link above. Not karma whoring, so I'm not repeating it here. If you want an actual image of the actual road, look a few comments further up.

Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's let TOM speak shall we:

"I'm having great conversations on this site with one of my alias accounts" - by Tom (822) on Monday April 07, 2014 @02:29PM (#46686259) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

APK

P.S.=> Tom *tried* to libel me & failed after I destroyed him in a technical debate on hosts files... result?

Tom ended up "eating his words" here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... spiced with "the bitter taste of SELF-defeat" + HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH

... apk

Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's let TOM speak shall we:

"I'm having great conversations on this site with one of my alias accounts" - by Tom (822) on Monday April 07, 2014 @02:29PM (#46686259) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

APK

P.S.=> Tom *tried* to libel me & failed after I destroyed him in a technical debate on hosts files... result? He's talking LIARS here? Tom = a libelous fucking LIAR:

Tom ended up "eating his words" here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... spiced with "the bitter taste of SELF-defeat" + HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH

... apk

Radioactive

[denbesten]

Note to self: When trying to sell a product, probably should not associate it with "radioactive".

> Roosegaarde told Wired.co.uk that Heijmans had managed to take its luminescence to the extreme—"it's almost radioactive", said Roosegaarde

you're kidding me, right?

[slashmydots]

"Whether the modified road paint can withstand harsh weather or even provide sufficient lighting given insufficient exposure to sunlight during the day remains to be seen"
So the standard US policy of making a 1 mile test strip didn't quote make it over to the Netherlands? They just threw it on 500 miles and said let's see if it works? Genius.

Re:you're kidding me, right?

[CaseCrash]

did you read the first 8 words of the summary? "A 500 meter (0.3 mile) stretch of road "

Re:you're kidding me, right?

[Neil Boekend]

1. This isn't the first test. Labtests have been done extensively.
2. It's 500 meters. Not miles. Not even 1 mile.

@PPH - Re:Useless

[nukenerd]

Streetlights are OK, but headlights are better. An animal or other obstruction will only appear as a shadow against a glowing roadway.

Headlights are not better. Of all the directions of illumination, that from below eye level, and especially from directly ahead (as oncoming traffic's headlights are), is the least effective. Why do you think that football stadiums are floodlit from high towers and not from knee level? Aside from the fact that fixed lighting from grid power is more efficient than car headlights (in the sense of lumens per energy input) where the traffic is continuous, as in towns.

As for obstrucions appearing "as a shadow" - that's bang on; it is how street lighting at one time worked by design. Sodium lighting was of a wavelength that was relected by "black" asphalt and roadside masonry, so the background was actually quite a bright yellow. Unlit objects, which generally reflected sodium light less than the road, then appeared clearly as black shapes against that background. Vehicles, in turn, formed a dark foil for their own side lights (ie running lights, not headlights).

Given that, in the UK headlights were once only used on country roads where there were no street lights. I remember driving back then in London and could even see cats or dogs crossing the road at night 800 yards ahead. Anyone with headlights on (perhaps after coming from an unlit road) would be angrily flashed at. That "system" was destroyed however in the UK by a period of patchy electrical power cuts when drivers just left their headlights on rather than bother to turn themon and off as they went in and out of lit areas. Not using headlights all the time became frowned on, and now there is no chance of seeing a pedestrian crossing the road from the opposite side behind a barrage on oncoming headlights, until they walk into your headlight beam right in front of you.

Re:Useless for Electricity shills

[houghi]

They did, but all the pictures were over-exposed.

Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's let TOM speak shall we:

"I'm having great conversations on this site with one of my alias accounts" - by Tom (822) on Monday April 07, 2014 @02:29PM (#46686259) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

APK

P.S.=> Tom *tried* to libel me & failed after I destroyed him in a technical debate on hosts files... result?

Tom ended up "eating his words" here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... spiced with "the bitter taste of SELF-defeat" + HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH

... apk

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha, the great 3 digit slashdot registered luser Tom goes down in flames.

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha, the great 3 digit slashdot registered luser Tom shot down in flames.

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha the great 3 digit slashdot registered luser Tom shot down in flames.

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha the great 3 digit slashdot registered luser Tom goes down in flames.

Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's let TOM speak shall we:

"I'm having great conversations on this site with one of my alias accounts" - by Tom (822) on Monday April 07, 2014 @02:29PM (#46686259) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

APK

P.S.=> Tom *tried* to libel me & failed after I destroyed him in a technical debate on hosts files... result?

Tom ended up "eating his words" here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... spiced with "the bitter taste of SELF-defeat" + HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH

... apk

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Hahahaha the great 3 digit slashdot registered luser Tom shot down in flames!

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody gives a shit except you

Just what I wanted!

[DiEx-15]

I collect glow-in-the-dark things. So excuse me as I book a flight there.

Hope my pickaxe can be considered carry on. Going to need a lot of KY for the TSA screening though.....

Glow in the Dark Matchbox city

[cboslin]

Yes, finally, my childhood come to life. Many an hour was spent making car sounds vroom, vroom, errrick (curve), vroom with my cousin with our Glow in the Dark Matchbox cities.

The idea of including weather info into the roadway (or perhaps a heads up display...) sounds interesting.

Just think it would be better in a heads up display than on the road.

Thanks for a great childhood memory.

To ebayers, sorry, my mom gave them away years ago, so you will have to shop elsewhere.

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[badkarmadayaccount]

You useless peace of shit, quit spamming unrelated threads with hosts files, FFS!

Re:Tom = multiple /. sockpuppet using scum

[Anonymous Coward]

You certainly do Tom, trolling by ac now. Do you think you fool anyone? Answer = no.

Tom downmods using sockpuppets

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's let TOM speak shall we:

"I'm having great conversations on this site with one of my alias accounts" - by Tom (822) on Monday April 07, 2014 @02:29PM (#46686259) Homepage

FROM -> http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

The "BEST TOM HAS" in this exchange? Using his sockpuppets to downmod THIS POST when I posted it before in this exchange (USING sockpuppets to upmod himself, & downmod my posts exposing him):

http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

(Tom downmods there, no doubt to effetely & vainly attempt to "hide it"... sockpuppets make downmods of your opponents easy & upmodding your regular Tom account posts up too, doesn't it? You, are lame!)

APK

P.S.=> Tom *tried* to libel me & failed after I destroyed him in a technical debate on hosts files... result?

Tom ended up "eating his words" here http://slashdot.org/comments.p... spiced with "the bitter taste of SELF-defeat" + HIS FOOT IN HIS MOUTH

... apk

Tom sockpuppet: Hello Tom! apk

[Anonymous Coward]

"There is nothing YOU can do, to stop it. The process has already begun. I receive no pleasure in this. It is simply the only solution... - Ultron 6 FROM -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...

So:

"Shutdown code, rejected: My programming ( http://start64.com/index.php?o... ) has advanced beyond YOUR commands: Beyond YOUR weakness" - Ultron 6 FROM -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...

* Not a thing you can do vs. it - & trolls most CERTAINLY can't disprove my points on hosts files giving users added speed, security, reliabliity, & anonymity online!.

(You know it, I KNOW IT - Anyone with 1/2 a brain on /. the past 2 yrs. does also, seeing you trolls harass me to no end - only to end up with EGG ON YOUR FACES!)

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Which is WHY I am annihilating you.

APK

P.S.=> Why you'd troll me used to boggle my mind. It's a good program that does the job & offers the benefits I enumerate in its download link. HOWEVER - It doesn't boggle my mind anymore why you trolls do:

You're malware makers/botnet masters (I block them refreshed daily from 12 reputable & reliable sources in the security community), advertisers (I block their ads which steal speed you PAID for & infect you with malicious scripts + track you), inferior competitors (Ghostery/AdBlock/RequestPolicy), or webmasters (Pissed I block ads - they're being exploited + I held off on letting my app out (not anymore after that)) & it isn't "Souled-Out" INFERIOR (Adblock & Ghostery) & it shores up security faults in DNS & speeds up resolution of your fav. sites hardcoded in it (faster than remote DNS lookups + secures you vs. DNS request logs + DNSBL)

.. apk