A patterned road surface cut into pavement to alert drivers through noise and vibration is called a rumble strip.
Rumble strips are grooves, raised patterns, or corrugated sections placed in the roadway. When a vehicle’s tires cross them, the contact produces a rumbling sound and tactile vibration that can wake an inattentive driver or warn of a lane departure, stop, slowdown, or hazard. Shoulder and centerline strips usually run along the direction of travel, while transverse strips cross the lane.
An early documented use occurred on New Jersey’s Route 6 in the 1940s, and rumble strips were installed on the Garden State Parkway in 1952. Modern versions may be milled into hardened asphalt, formed in fresh concrete, rolled into warm pavement, or made from raised plastic or ceramic material.
They are not the same as a speed bump, which is designed to physically reduce speed. Botts’ dots and cat’s eyes are pavement markers or reflectors; they may provide visual guidance but are not the general term for a noise-and-vibration warning surface.