[News Today] LANE DIVIDERS MELT IN HEAT WAVE

[LEAD]
Amidst a prolonged heat wave, we're witnessing cases where lane dividers on roads are collapsing. Long-standing installations have melted because of the high temperatures. This is a serious risk that everyone on the road should be aware of.


[REPORT]
A four-lane street in the heart of Daejeon.

A portion of the lane separators started to bend to one side and then the rest went down like dominoes.

Some fifty meters of the dividers gave way. Startled drivers slowed down to avoid the separators.

As the day's high climbed to 33.6 degrees Celsius, the separators' polyurethane parts melted in the heat.

Jo Jae-il/ Daejeon resident
When I saw the fallen posts, I thought the old ones were being replaced. But I found later that the posts fell because of the heat.

The asphalt road surface sizzled under the intense heat.

The air temperature measured 33 degrees, but the heat from the traveling cars pushed up street surface temperature to a whopping 55 degrees.

Center dividers older than ten years cannot withstand the weight of the upper part under such high temperatures.

More than 20 cases of fallen median dividers were reported in Daejeon alone last year. The means to ensure traffic safety has become a safety hazard that could cause traffic accidents.

The local government is removing the dividers, but no one can predict where and when the posts would fall next.

Park Jeong-min/ Daejeon Metropolitan Gov't
Our resources are severely lacking, so it's difficult to replace them all at once.

The current heat wave is proven to be so intense that it can melt median separators and threaten road safety.