fog line
n.— «Resident Michael Reiskind noted that the Jamaicaway lacks edge-of-the-road striping—or “fog lines,” as he called them—on both shoulders of the road between Kelly Circle and Perkins Street. That means drivers have no visual cues about where the road ends and parkland and sidewalks begin.» —“Fewer cars crashing on parkways” by John Ruch Jamaica Plain Gazette (Massachusetts) Feb. 8, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
David says that when he was growing up in Akron, Ohio, his family referred to the grassy area between the sidewalk and street as the devil strip. He’s since moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he doesn’t hear that term. There are lots...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...
This term is defined in the vehicle code of many states. I learned this term when I took drivers education over 15 yrs ago. While the use of fog lines may not be as prevalent in other countries (see Jamaica), its use in the United States is neither new nor worth of more attention. Its as old as the U.S. highway system and well documented.
David, “fog line” is not documented in any of the 12 mainstream English dictionaries I checked; therefore, I cited it here.