Roadway shoulder rumble strips apparatus

Abstract

Rumble strips slow down the speed of tires that are crossing the rumble strips that the vehicle tends to turn its direction toward the shoulder. Also, a component of the reaction force from the rumble strips pushes the vehicle further away from its normal path. These two effects cause potential danger to the driver. The current invention shows a rumble strips apparatus that are capable of providing a guiding force to guide the vehicle back to its normal path and in the mean time, providing vibration as conventional rumble strips do.

We claim:  
     
         1 . (cancelled)  
     
     
         2 . (cancelled)  
     
     
         3 . (cancelled)  
     
     
         4 . (cancelled)  
     
     
         5 . A roadway shoulder rumble strips comprising: 
 a rightmost travel lane;    a right edge line lies on the right of said rightmost travel lane;    a right shoulder located on the right of said right edge line; and    a plurality of curved rumble strips lies in the said right shoulder    where the two ends of each of said plurality of curved rumble strips form a virtual line and the said virtual line and said right edge line form an angle of approximately 5-15°.    
     
     
         6 . An apparatus as in  claim 5 , where the most part of each of the said curved rumble strips are on the left side of each of the said virtual line.  
     
     
         7 . An apparatus as in  claim 5 , where the most part of each of the said curved rumble strips are on the right side of each of the said virtual line.  
     
     
         8 . A roadway shoulder rumble strips comprising: 
 a leftmost travel lane;    a left edge line lies on the left of said leftmost travel lane;    a left shoulder located on the left of said left edge line; and    a plurality of curved rumble strips lies in the said left shoulder 
 where the two ends of each of said plurality of curved rumble strips form a virtual line and the said virtual line and said left edge line form an angle of approximately 5-15°.  
   
     
     
         9 . An apparatus as in  claim 8 , where the most part of each of the said curved rumble strips are on the right side of each of the said virtual line.  
     
     
         10 . An apparatus as in  claim 8 , where the most part of each of the said curved rumble strips are on the left side of each of the said virtual line.