rumble strips
(RUM.bul strips)
n.
Grooves etched into a highway surface and designed to emit a loud rumble when a car drives over them.
Example Citation:
A double-fine zone for speeding, rumble strips to wake up sleepy drivers and additional passing lanes have been in place since 1995, when 14 people died on the same portion of the highway.
—Sally Ann Connell, " 'Blood Alley' Lives Up to Its Name," Los Angeles Times, April 28, 1999
Earliest Citation:
Many States, such as Michigan, have installed "rumble strips" at key areas by cutting grooves in the concrete surface of major highways. This is said to cause complaints in some areas from residents who live nearby and can hear the rumble, but says one official. "They do wake up the driver."
—"Ideas that are saving lives," U.S. News & World Report, February 9, 1976
