The French village with squiggles painted on roads to stop speeding

At a glance, it looks like a piece of abstract art. But this junction in a French village has not been decorated for aesthetic purposes – but to deter drivers from speeding. The seemingly random squiggles were painted on road sections leading to a T-junction in the village of Baune, which lies near the city of Angers in the Maine-et-Loire region. But the controversial markings are not to everyone’s taste – with one local saying the lines gave her seasickness, while another suggested they could be dangerous.

They were introduced following a discussion between local officials over concerns about drivers breaking the speed limit while driving through the 30kph (19mph) zone. The village’s mayor, Audrey Revereault, says it is hoped the markings will ‘create a visual disturbance’ and slow drivers down. She told French news site The Connexion that the road markings are working as they are supposed to, with drivers successfully keeping to the speed limit.

Jean-Charles Prono, the mayor of Loire-Authion, a group of seven villages that includes Baune, said that ‘people drive fast and it’s complicated to get people to slow down and to have roads signs that work’, Euronews reports. He added that the goal was ‘to make it difficult to read the landscape’.

The publication notes that the markings are not ‘final’, but rather are being trialled to see how effective they are. It adds that Prono said that speed bumps were overlooked as an alternative, as there were concerns they could create a noise issue for locals. The markings were introduced last month, with local Facebook page ‘Ca bouge sur Bauné’ promptly sharing an image of the newly painted junction with residents.

Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page here and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.