--- title: "We’re Absolutely Fascinated by These Glow-in-the-Dark Lane Markings" description: "A company in Australia is testing photoluminescent lane markings that light up your roads at night, and it looks like something straight out of TRON." date: "2022-09-20" modified: "2022-09-20" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/glow-in-the-dark-lane-markings" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "highways" - "roads" - "the digest" - "transportation" --- # We’re Absolutely Fascinated by These Glow-in-the-Dark Lane Markings ![A company in Australia is testing photoluminescent lane markings that light up your roads at night, and it looks like something straight out of TRON.]() *\Image: Tarmac Linemarking\* ## Light Itself Images of glow-in-the-dark lane markings have [gone viral]() this month, accumulating nearly 100,000 shares on Facebook, [according to *News.com.au*]() — and they’re fascinating to look at. The photoluminescent markings are part of a recently completed "trial run" by Tarmac Linemarking, a road construction company based in Victoria, Australia that's gotten some government funding to experiment with new road treatments. This test in particular spanned across a one kilometer stretch of highway in the southeast of Victoria. The effect is arresting. The markings turn your ordinary country road at night into something like a highway straight out of "TRON." In addition to making a trippy drive, the road treatment will supposedly improve visibility of the markings themselves, nearby signs, and more clearly illustrate upcoming intersections and curves for drivers. As is the case with photoluminescent applications, the coating absorbs energy from light throughout the day and releases it during the night, giving the coating its glowing effect. According to a company spokesperson who talked to *News.com.au*, the light should last "most of the night" after a sunny day, but they were pretty vague on how that might be affected by overcast weather. But at the very least, they should be glowing during dusk hours when troublemaking critters like deer come out of hiding and teeter around the roads. ## A Bright Future? It’s a cool application — although [not the first]() — but we should probably gather more data before rolling it out more broadly. Is it a sustainable option in terms of cost, and how might runoff from the coating as it wears down affect the environment? We don’t really know. And it has to be said, are glow-in-the-dark lane markings really any more effective or practical than the road reflectors already installed across countless streets and highways? Let’s not forget the already-in-use lane lines that boast [retro reflective technology](), which shine back at drivers with the light received from their headlights. Instead, glow-in-the-dark lanes, if anything, will likely have a more niche application — maybe on some particularly dangerous-at-night stretches of road. Better yet, it could be used on pedestrian or bicycle paths, since neither is likely to have a strong light source of their own. All in all, you probably won’t be seeing this treatment used very ubiquitously, but we envy the chance of seeing it in person. **More on transportation:** [*Chinese Researchers Test Cars That Hover Over Road Using Magnets*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()