Canada Introduces Child Friendly Speed Bump

[BreakABone]

This is actually an interesting idea.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/files/2010/09/3dgirl1.gif

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."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100908/od_yblog_upshot/canada-unveils-new-speed-bump-optical-illusions-of-children

[Vampyr]

Sooo...most people drive the same roads every day. Even if this shocks you the first time, you'll know every other time it isn't real.

That being said, I really hate speed bumps. Most of them around here are so large that even if you're going the speed limit you have to slow down to a crawl to ease over them. Not to mention the paint has wore off of most of them.

[Combine 017]

Thats the stupidest thing ive ever seen.
What if people going to fast swerve to avoid it and end up in oncoming traffic?

[Professor S]

Thats the stupidest thing ive ever seen.
What if people going to fast swerve to avoid it and end up in oncoming traffic?

You beat me to it. This will cause more accidents than it will prevent.

[Dyne]

So is this only going near that school then? Tell me where it is so I can stay the hell away from it. That sounds so annoying.

[Angrist]

That being said, I really hate speed bumps. Most of them around here are so large that even if you're going the speed limit you have to slow down to a crawl to ease over them. My driving instructor taught me to take the bumps with 10 kms (7 miles?) under the speed limit. Works like a charm.

Also, this idea is stupid. Like the article says, this thing conditions people to keep driving when they see a child playing at the street.

In the UK they're experimenting with a different optical illusion, something with trees that grow closer to the road, which gives the illusion of a higher speed.

[Typhoid]

this thing conditions people to keep driving when they see a child playing at the street.

I'd argue that it conditions people to assume every child is a speed bump, and to slow down accordingly upon driving over them.

And you know, hopefully while they're slowing down the child can saunter out of the way.

But I think regardless of how many times you take the road (despite the fact that speed bump appears to be in an underground parking lot for BC Hydro) and know full-well that the child is a speedbump and not a real child - if you're fiddling in your purse for your phone, or grabbing something from between your seat and out of the corner of your eye you see the shape of a child, it will instinctively make you slam on the brakes.

But if you're driving attentively at a normal speed, it's just a normal freakin' speedbump.

[Angrist]

Only I don't think this thing is actually a speed bump. It's a painting on the street. No need to hold back for that once you realize it.