Dots’ Demise Denied

Nearly everyone who’s driven on a California freeway knows the sound: Stray too far out of your lane and your attention is immediately riveted by a loud, vibrating baloop baloop baloop.

It’s the noise made by Botts dots, those raised lane markers that have become veritable icons of the state’s motor transportation system. Invented in 1955 by a California Department of Transportation chemist named Elbert Botts, they were designed to replace paint in designating freeway lanes.

Their place in the hearts of California motorists was clearly evidenced recently by the reaction to erroneous reports of the dots’ imminent demise: Caltrans offices statewide were flooded with hundreds of letters of protest.

“I think they’re an excellent idea,” said Mia O’Neil, a dance instructor from Huntington Beach, one of many dots fans. “If you’re lighting a cigarette and veer over your lane, they get your attention. I would miss them if they were gone.”

But fear not. Caltrans officials said the rumors are simply untrue.

“Dr. Botts’ invention was a good idea when he came up with it, and it will continue to be a good idea that’s used for the public for many years to come,” said Jim Drago, a department spokesman.

The false rumors got started several months ago, Drago said, when a freelance magazine writer doing a feature story on Elbert Botts erroneously reported that Botts dots were being phased out.

“Newspapers and media all over the state picked up that the dots were going the way of the Model T,” Drago said, “and it just isn’t true.”

What’s really happening is far less dramatic, he said. Caltrans officials are testing a new design--plastic strips with raised bumps at spaced intervals--in the hopes that it will prove to be more durable than the traditional Botts dots.

In fact, Drago said, Botts’ original “dots,” which were round and made of glass, have evolved a great deal anyway. While “the general idea remains the same,” Drago said, modern raised lane markers are often square in shape and made from a variety of materials, including ceramic, polyester and plastic.

And motorists driving over the proposed plastic strips aren’t likely to notice anything but a change in the quality of the baloop, he said.

The current dots number about 25 million statewide, with about 891,470 in Orange County alone. The dots can last more than 10 years on some stretches of infrequently used highway, but sometimes they can withstand only a few months of the beating they get along highly traveled roads, Drago said.

The new strips are being tested at more than 50 highway sites statewide, mostly in Northern California and San Diego County, with preliminary results expected later this year, according to Drago.

If successful, the strips will be offered to local Caltrans officials for optional use on some stretches of road prone to heavy traffic.

“It would be another tool in the toolbox,” Drago said of the strips. “We would leave it up to our field people to determine if, at certain locations, they could consider using this material instead. We’re not going to undertake some massive conversion program. Dr. Botts’ invention is going to be with us for a very long time.”

That’s good news to many drivers and safety officials throughout the state.

Aida Berkovitz, a traffic and safety engineer with the Federal Highway Administration, sees some definite safety benefits to the dots.

While she doesn’t know of any studies documenting the dots’ impact on traffic accidents, she said: “I would think that they do a good job of keeping people in their lanes. If you’ve driven in other parts of the country [where Botts dots aren’t used], you’ve probably noticed that people have lots more of a tendency to weave across their lanes.”

That point was certainly brought home to Margaret Trojan of Huntington Beach, who said that Botts dots may have once saved her life.

“They woke me up when I dozed off,” she said. “It was terrible. Overall, I’d say they’re beneficial.”

Tom Goeller, also of Huntington Beach, said that he has mixed feelings about the little protrusions.

“They’re OK, I guess,” he said. “They’re kind of annoying at times, but they let you know where you’re at.”

The dots are used in only a handful of other states, but Drago said California motorists can expect that familiar baloop for years to come.

“They are part of the highway landscape in California,” Drago said. “I know a lot of people who kind of hate riding over them because, they say, it’s jarring. In many cases, though, people are probably used to them. It’s like a loyal, good old dog.”