Is motoring a man’s world? There have been and are women who have proven and are proving that it is not! June McCarroll, for example, has become known as the automotive revolutionary. She was a doctor by profession, but with a creative mind, which allowed her to become one of the most famous women who changed the face of motoring.
June McCarrol was born in 1867; her mother died just five months after that. She spent her childhood in the Adirondacks, but moved to Los Angeles, California in the late 1880s. In the early 20th century, she studied in Chicago. Her determination was evident during her early years as a physician. She was the only practicing physician between the Salton Sea and Palm Springs, and she also served the Indian reservations in the area, so she had no shortage of work.
One day while driving to her office she was run off the road by a truck. Fortunately, she was not seriously injured, and the accident was the beginning of a fight to change the traffic patterns that would eventually be brought about by June McCarroll and her determination. She stated that the accident would not have happened if there had been dividing lanes on the roadway. The local authorities were not interested in this idea and left it unanswered. June did not give up, however, and together with women’s associations, she started a campaign that would eventually result in lanes on the road on state routes.
Today the lane system is in place all over the world, there are really very few places where they are missing. In Poland, for example, these are rather small towns that are not crossed by provincial or district roads. As you can see, June McCarroll had a huge impact on the development of transportation and motoring with one, seemingly so obvious (though not in those days), change in the roadway. Of course, stripes have evolved over nearly 100 years. Now they are a necessary addition to vertical signs, and are often the only ones drivers are expected to follow
To think that lane-keeping assist, a feature in modern cars that is used by almost all manufacturers, wouldn’t make the slightest sense and probably wouldn’t have come into existence if it weren’t for the unfortunate accident of June McCarroll
After all, the aforementioned assistant is a great way to warn drivers that they are drifting out of their lane. This feature works thanks to a camera located on the windshield. What is more, if the driver gets lost or even faints at the wheel for a moment, the assistant will steer the vehicle on its own, even for a few dozen seconds, taking into account the information recorded by the camera. This has already saved lives and prevented accidents on the roads in many cases.
Main photo: Matt Duncan/unsplash.com
