03Plank 3

Roll back the double yellow line on Shore Drive

A double yellow line makes a road look like a highway. So people drive it like one. On a road that runs through the middle of a neighborhood, past kids on bikes and grandparents on their morning walk, that's a problem we can fix for free.

Photo
Shore Drive with its double yellow line

The short version

At some point, the county painted a double yellow line down the middle of Shore Drive. It probably seemed like a safety measure. It wasn't.

Traffic research from the federal government, state governments, and universities all points the same way. When you paint a center line on a quiet residential street, drivers see a road built for speed. They claim "their" lane. They pay less attention. They drive faster.

And when drivers go faster, the people walking, biking, and playing along the road are in more danger. Shore Drive isn't just for the people who live on it. It's how the whole neighborhood gets to the water, to the park, and to each other.

Here's what that looks like on a Saturday. Trucks and trailers from all over the county come through on their way to the boat ramps. Most of those drivers don't live here. They don't know which driveway the kids on bikes come out of, or that the couple walking their dog does it every morning at eight. A road that looks like a highway tells them to keep moving. A road that looks like a neighborhood tells them to slow down.

This is our home. We'd like it to be a safe place for the people who live here. That's the whole story. The details are below.

6,000cars per day before federal rules require a center line. Shore Drive is nowhere close.
7–13%drop in speed when center lines were removed in a London trial.
Halfa pedestrian's chance of surviving is cut in half between 20 mph and 30 mph.

The line was never required

The federal rulebook for road markings is called the MUTCD. It says a center line is required only on busy roads carrying 6,000 or more vehicles a day. It says a center line is recommended above 3,000 a day. Below that, it says nothing at all.

Shore Drive is a two-lane street with no through traffic and no stores. It carries far fewer than 3,000 cars a day. The double yellow line was a choice, not a rule.

Lines and wide lanes make people speed

This is the part that surprises people, so here's what the research found:

Take the line off, and people slow down

Other places have tested exactly this. In 2014, Transport for London removed center lines from three residential streets during repaving. Speeds dropped 5 to 9 mph, up to 13% on one street. Their report said center lines give drivers a "psychological sense of confidence" that the lane is theirs, and that removing them "introduces an element of uncertainty which is reflected in lower speeds."

A county in England found the same thing over four years: fewer speeders and fewer injury crashes. Scotland is running a nine-site study right now with early results showing "significant reductions in speed."

Here in Florida, Palm Coast and Deltona both use lane narrowing to calm neighborhood traffic. Jacksonville's "20 is Plenty" program is built on the same idea: the design of the road, not the sign, decides how fast people drive.

Why a few miles an hour matters so much

The link between speed and survival is not a straight line. It bends sharply. Here's what the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found for a person on foot who gets hit:

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety confirmed this in 2024: a 1% chance of death at 20 mph, 19% at 35 mph, over 80% at 50 mph.

So the 7 mph drop London saw isn't small. At the speeds on Shore Drive, it cuts the risk of a pedestrian dying nearly in half.

For our older neighbors, it matters even more. AAA found that a 70-year-old hit at 25 mph faces the same risk as a 30-year-old hit at 35 mph. On a street with as many retirees as ours, the difference between 25 and 30 mph is the difference between a scare and a funeral.

Who's most at risk

Kids. They're small, hard to see, and they chase balls into the street. On a street without a center line, drivers expect children. On a street with a double yellow line, drivers expect a clear lane.

Older neighbors. Many of us walk Shore Drive every day. We move a little slower. Our bodies don't bounce back the way they used to.

Everyone with a dog, a bike, or a stroller. Which is most of us.

What we're asking the county to do

1. Take the line off

Remove the double yellow line from Shore Drive and don't repaint it at the next resurfacing. It costs nothing. It saves money.

2. Measure it

Do a simple before-and-after speed study, the way London and other cities did.

3. Add more calming if needed

If speeds are still a problem, look at speed humps or narrowing, like Palm Coast and Deltona.

4. Make it the rule

Don't paint center lines on quiet residential streets unless the residents ask for it and a study shows it helps.

The county has spent years talking about safety on Shore Drive. The first step toward it costs nothing at all. Stop painting the line.

Want to help? The best thing you can do is show up and stay in touch. Join the list and we'll let you know when it matters.

Sources