Q I am very unhappy with the state’s most recent plan to do away with Botts’

Dots, especially given their reason. Driverless cars may be the future, but they are not the present in which most of us live and drive.

Botts’ Dots are of amazing value to those of us who drive in the dark, in stormy weather and on unfamiliar roads. They give us a tactile limit to the lanes we should be driving in or are crossing over.

What can be done to stop the removal of the dots?

Lore Winterman-Sturm

Union City

A At this stage, not much. The popular Botts dots — there are an estimated 20 million on state roads — are likely going bye-bye after 50 years of service. The Sacramento Bee reported that as roads are repaved, the dots will likely not be replaced. Studies show that they haven’t reduced crashes significantly.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK: Should Botts’ Dots be removed from California roadways?

Also, the dots, which are typically glued to the pavement in rows of four, crumble and break loose too frequently under heavier truck traffic. Caltrans says it is risky for workers to replace them amid speeding freeway traffic.

But many drivers love the white ceramic road markers. I wrote a story two decades ago that Caltrans was going to get rid of them, and the outrage convinced the state to reverse course.

Among the fans is Greg-the-Roadshow-Historian: “Given that a large number of drivers today are either talking on their phone, checking their maps, changing their radio station, searching the web or reading a novel, I think they should stay.”

By the way, the dots are named after their inventor, Elbert Botts. Wrote the Bee: “The classic white ceramic dot, a notable innovation in its day, appears to be a bad fit in the emerging world of driverless cars that rely on cameras, radar and computers to read lane lines. Although automated vehicles can be taught to see a variety of lane markings, including dots, federal officials want more uniformity nationally on lane lines.”

So the state is now using more thermoplastic pavement-marking paint for lane lines. It looks like paint but is reflective and more durable.

Q One evening, a particularly scary incident occurred on Buchanan Road in Pittsburg. The road is three lanes, one in each direction with a center lane. An oncoming vehicle had high beams on; they were so bright I was completely blinded. I lost track of my lane position.

Had it not been for the Botts’ Dots separating the center lane from my lane, I would not have known I was heading directly for oncoming traffic. Dangerous, and very frightening.

Drew Smith

A In the future, the state also plans to use more contrast striping, a white line flanked by black stripes that is now showing up on our freeways. Here is one Roadshow reader’s review of those …

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Do sideshows in my neighborhood warrant a 911 call? Roadshow Q It was fantastic when they added the black lines on north Interstate 280 near the Apple starship, where the lanes do an unexpected jiggity-jog. I have noticed other concrete freeways have received the black line treatment; Highway 101 in Morgan Hill comes to mind.

Whoever came up with this idea should get a prize. It was a brilliant solution to a problem we didn’t even recognize.

Steve Rempel

Los Altos

A Brilliant indeed.

Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com.