On this episode of Our American Stories, when automobiles first took over American roads, drivers had speed but few of the rules we now take for granted. Roads often had no marked lanes, traffic laws varied from place to place, and thousands were dying in crashes each year. Then a handful of Americans began experimenting with an extraordinarily simple solution: paint a line down the middle of the road.

The History Guy tells the surprising story of Edward Hines, whose inspiration may have come from a leaking milk truck, and the decades-long effort to turn a stripe of paint into one of the most universal safety features on the American road.

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