Road Music

A post over at a Wired's Listening Post about a musician/artist who noticed road ridges producing tones as he drove over them, and conceived of producing music (or a music-like experience) as a form of "installation art". For what it's worth (not much, I know) my old buddy Jeffery Priddy and I noticed something like this way back in college. Along some stretches of highway, the "shoulder strip" (the area just outside the lines but still paved) actually has deliberately placed and spaced sets of cross-grooves that make a dramatic racket as you drive over them. It's kind of an alarm system, to get inattentive or drowsy drivers back in their lane.

Our idea (or perhaps just Jeffery's, I don't know for sure and don't want to be a credit hog) was less musical but humorous (and possibly functional). By controlling the spacing of the bumps you could make the sounds into a voice “recording” of an appropriate warning, something short and attention-grabbing like “Hey” or “Wake Up!” Or alternate the two, “Hey… Wake Up!... Hey… Wake Up!...”