(WYTV)- Traffic lines come in two colors: white and yellow.
Who thought of those and why? As late as 1917, many roads in the rural parts of the country had no lines at all, you were just expected to hug the right side of the road. A road commissioner in Michigan, Edward Hines came up with the idea for a white centerline in the early 1900s.
He once saw milk spilled from a delivery wagon on a freshly paved road, and thought that white stood out just fine.
By 1955, most states used white stripes to divide their traffic lanes…except for Oregon.
That state said you should add some yellow, a better way to show caution, to show that the two sides of the highway had cars traveling in opposite directions and you just don’t cross yellow.
By 1971, the country had come around to Oregon’s point of view.
Yellow already had a reputation for caution: in stoplights it meant slow down and the first stop signs in the early days of driving were painted yellow.
