Taking 'fingerprints' from a road!. Ministry's search for safety. Painstaking tests are being carried out at the Ministry of Transport Road Research Laboratories at Harmondsworth, Middlesex, in the search for improved road surfaces and, incidentally, road safety. Intricate machines try out many different road making materials and road services in the quest for the ideal composition. Photo shows, a car passing over a rubber strip let into the road at Harmondsworth. This strip automatically records the number of vehicles passing every hour and aids chemists in the research. The man. Our right is taking a fingerprint' of the surface. This is used in conjunction with the figures obtained from the rubber strip to decide wear and tear on the road. 30 November 1937