# "Musical" Roads and the Feasibility Thereof **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845 "2008-09-23T15:54:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845/21 "2008-09-24T00:56:45Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aey7Jq0G3EU) (41 sec). > > The tune is as flat as the road. From the comments: > [@](#): > > SCV411 (1 day ago) Show Hide +10 Marked as spam Reply | Spam > I heard if you drive backwards at 55 mph, it plays Led Zeppelin songs and makes demonic noises… but you have to be in a Yugo. > > Film4tEleven (1 day ago) Show Hide +2 Marked as spam Reply | Spam > This is, by a margin too large to measure, the greatest comment ever posted on this YouTube. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845/22 "2008-09-24T02:03:31Z")
I prefer [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_w3UG6C_Mo)musical road. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845/23 "2008-09-24T02:43:58Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > By the looks of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou-Xy5OI1kc), there’s no major alteration of the road needed, just stick a few things on the surface. There are a couple of places in Japan that have musical roads, which is probably where Honda got the idea. Here, grooves are actually made in the asphalt, as you can see at the end of [this Japanese tv programme](http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=PHhGzfsqKH0&feature=related). The musical roads here aren’t for publicity, rather, I hear they’re an attempt at controlling driving speed. People will tend to drive at a speed that “sounds right”. Some roads, in more mountainous regions, just play a continuous tone before curves as a warning. I can vouch that the sound and the vibration does make you want to slow down a bit. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845/24 "2008-09-24T05:03:57Z")
> [@CC](#): > > _What’d_ she say?? I did say by the _looks_ of this, not the _sound_ of it 😉 > [@jovan](#): > > I can vouch that the sound and the vibration does make you want to slow down a bit. That would make sense - there’s a not-entirely-dissimilar technique used on some British roads, where a major highway approaches a junction, with parallel yellow lines across the road, at decreasing intervals. Both the visual effect and the (probably deliberate) audible and physical feel of crossing each line gives the impression of acceleration, encouraging the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845/25 "2008-09-24T13:09:44Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > [YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aey7Jq0G3EU) (41 sec). > > The tune is as flat as the road. Yeah - the rhythm is OK, and the pitch rises / falls when it’s supposed to, but it definitely doesn’t rise / fall as much as it should to be “in tune”. Sounds almost like a parody of the real tune. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musical-roads-and-the-feasibility-thereof/464845.md?page=1)