A piece of discarded tire tread, typically from a blown commercial truck retread, resting in a traffic lane. The name comes from the way the curved, jagged strip of black rubber resembles an alligator resting on the asphalt. Hitting one at highway speeds can cause severe damage to a vehicle's undercarriage or kick up debris into trailing traffic.
Heard on the job
Watch your lane, there's a massive alligator sitting right on the white line near mile marker 42.
Also heard as
- gator
- road gator