French Town Sets Speed Limits on Roads in a “Bizarre” Way

A small town in western France has resorted to an unusual method to control car speeds by drawing intersecting and twisted white lines that confuse drivers and force them to slow down.

The small town of Bouille, home to only about 1,700 people, has to deal with heavy daily traffic due to its location at the intersection of two international roads.

Around 2,300 cars pass through Bouille every day, and their speed can exceed 100 km/h (62 mph), even though the intersection is clearly marked with speed limit signs set at 30 km/h (18.6 mph).

In order to encourage drivers to reduce their speed, local authorities came up with the idea of using perplexing road markings in the form of intersecting and continuous lines, and interestingly, this strategy has yielded impressive results.

Images of the peculiar road signs at Bouille’s busy intersection spread on French social media last month, leaving many people baffled.

According to Grégoire Junot, Deputy Mayor of Les Herbiers and responsible for local development, data has shown a significant decrease in car driver speeds.

However, some of the local community members view the outcome as temporary, believing that once drivers figure out the game, they will immediately revert to their usual speeds.