Why America Won't Copy Sweden's Cheap Highway Fix

Every day, millions of Americans drive two-lane highways with nothing but a painted stripe between them and oncoming traffic. It feels normal. It feels safe enough. But in Sweden, that same setup used to be responsible for two-thirds of all highway deaths in the country. Their fix was a simple cable. Strung down the center of the same pavement, within the same width the road always had, it cut deaths on converted highways by 50 to 90 percent. But here's the silly part: American engineers tested the exact same design, on American roads, with American drivers. It worked here too. So why, over a decade later, is it still sitting in a single pilot program in Kentucky, and nowhere else?