People laughed when FOX TV used glowing pucks on hockey broadcasts.

But now the City of Calgary says a similar invention might save lives on local streets.

It's looking at using pavement markers that turn bright red when it's cold enough for ice to form.

The grey, puck-shaped disks -- imbedded in asphalt -- start changing colour at 3 C. They become completely red when the mercury hits the freezing mark.

The roads department is trying out the icy-roads warning system, but it still needs a few adjustments.

Traction Technologies, based in Kamloops, B.C., is testing its system in 16 cities across Canada in order to find out how to improve the product.

Vice-president Casey Dundass is aware there might be a size issue affecting the visibility of the disks. The pucks are 10 centimetres in diameter.

If drivers can't see them, it defeats the purpose, so Dundass is working on a few different ideas. "Part of this test is determining what is the best size; what is the best configuration to put them in to make them more visible." One strategy Dundass is recommending is placing them in a "diamond- or a triangle-shaped configuration."

Calgary's first test site -- on Barlow Trail, between 32nd Avenue and 39th Avenue N.E. -- is using a single puck setup.

Dundass is looking to improve the markers with a reflective material to help make them more visible to drivers at night. This is all based on feedback from cities that have already been testing the warning system.

Mac Logan, director of roads for the City of Calgary, said the affordability of the warning system makes it a worthwhile venture.

"If we can prevent a few accidents a month on our major arteries, it will pay for itself," he said.

Logan's team is going to install the pucks at six other test sites around Calgary. The team will observe the effectiveness of the markers over the duration of the winter.

If the proper adjustments are made and the pucks prove effective, then Calgarians will see them on all of Calgary's major routes next winter, said Logan.

While most collisions are caused by driver error, he's open to anything that might improve safety.

The remaining test sites will be set up in the westbound lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway at Bowfort Road, Crowchild Trail where it crosses the Bow River, Macleod Trail where it crosses Fish Creek and on Country Hills Boulevard.