Canada unveils new speed bump: optical illusion of a child

[GSG]

Canada unveils new speed bump: optical illusion of a child

 

Officials in West Vancouver, Canada, apparently aren't satisfied with the driver-slowing properties of traditional speed bumps. On Tuesday, the town unveiled a new way to persuade motorists to ease off the gas pedal in the vicinity of the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School: a 2-D image of a child playing, creating the illusion that the approaching driver will soon blast into a child.

 

According to Discover magazine, the pavement painting appears to rise up as the driver gets closer to it, reaching full 3-D realism at around 100 feet: "Its designers created the image to give drivers who travel at the street's recommended 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) enough time to stop before hitting Pavement Patty -- acknowledging the spectacle before they continue to safely roll over her."

 

You have to wonder if the designers of the "speed bump of the future" considered that drivers might become conditioned to disregard Pavement Patty and her imaginary cohorts, creating something similar to a "boy who cried wolf" effect. Couldn't such conditioning reduce drivers' caution if a real child should cross their path?

 

Asked whether confusing and/or tricking drivers with such images might create such unintended hazards, David Dunne of the British Columbia Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation said that pedestrians need to be just as alert as drivers.

 

"People tune out. It takes an attitude shift for people to change," Dunne said. "Pedestrians need an attitude shift too. They have to realize that just because they are in a crosswalk doesn't mean they are safe. In fact, most get hit while using crosswalks."

 

As for drivers who become can't process optical illusions, Dunne argued that they have no business on the road in the first place.

 

"It's a static image," he said. "If a driver can't respond to this appropriately, that person shouldn't be driving, and that's a whole different problem."

 

Link to article with picture

[AR Husker Fan]

If I remember correctly, some European cities are doing something very similar - the difference being that they are using images of large pot-holes instead of a child. Seems to be working well.

[kansas husker]

You have to wonder if the designers of the "speed bump of the future" considered that drivers might become conditioned to disregard Pavement Patty and her imaginary cohorts, creating something similar to a "boy who cried wolf" effect. Couldn't such conditioning reduce drivers' caution if a real child should cross their path?

 

this is exactly what I thought, it wouldn't take very long to get use to seeing the image of a kid, and eventualy some one will think it is fake. This is a bad idea.

[mmmtodd]

horrible idea. The pothole one is a million times better. Or why not a traffic cone painting.

[GSG]

I vote for pictures of the Jersey Shore cast members...

[zoogs]

It doesn't make sense if not accompanied by an actual physical bump...

[HuskersNow]

I vote for pictures of the Jersey Shore cast members...

That would make people speed up.

[Drowning_in_the_Sea_of_Red]

I vote for pictures of the Jersey Shore cast members...

That would make people speed up.

 

Excellent point.

 

I was going to nominate Justin Beaver, or whatever, but that would probably be the same result.

[Vince from ShamWOW]

I vote for pictures of the Jersey Shore cast members...

 

 

Very nice. Winner!

[NUance]

I didn't know there was a problem with plain old speed bumps to begin with.

[Street Novelist]

If drivers can't tell the difference between real pedestrians and these 2-D drawings, won't the drivers have to slam on their brakes to avoid the fake ones? Once they encounter these 2-D images a certain amount of times, they might just keep going and forget about braking.

[74Hunter]

If drivers can't tell the difference between real pedestrians and these 2-D drawings, won't the drivers have to slam on their brakes to avoid the fake ones? Once they encounter these 2-D images a certain amount of times, they might just keep going and forget about braking.

Agreed. This garbage pisses me off. In Omaha, we had one of the worst winters in recent history and the roads are still being repaired. The pot holes in front of my house were huge, I could barely drive over them in my 4x4, but down at the bottom of the street, the stupid city was wasting money by replacing functioning speed bumps instead of fixing the potholes that they should have been.

 

Also, there are a couple of areas where the city has put up a flashing MPH sign where they clock your vehicle. Personally, I see them as a challenge and try to get going as fast as I possible can before I pass them.

[Manhattan]

So the message is, we should drive over the pedestrian, but slow down while we do so?

[Minnesota_husker]

How many people slam there brakes on and then get rear-ended before people realize this is stupid.

[Apathy]

How many people slam there brakes on and then get rear-ended before people realize this is stupid.

Thats the first thing that I thought of while reading that article