Canada unveils new speed bump: optical illusion of a child

news.yahoo.com ^ | Sept 8 2010 | Brett Michael Dykes

[Berlin_Freeper]

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?

[Ditter]

I am seeing this as a terrible idea. If you hit a speed bump too hard you don’t hurt anyone except those in your car. You will slow for the next one. If you see this and think it is a real child you may do anything to avoid hitting it and that might include swerving into a real person or another car. If they want to get fancy how about a Safety Sally (remember her?) on the side of the road holding a sign that tells you how fast you are going? Our neighborhood is getting ready to put of one of that kind of speed sign, without Sally.

[metmom]

Not a good idea.

I can see some old person caught off guard swerving at the last minute to avoid a *child* and going into the path of oncoming traffic and causing an accident.

Or rolling over the image and thinking they hit a real child and being seriously distressed over it.

[metmom]

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?

Exactly.

[allmendream]

LOL!

So the running people over in cold blood was OK, but no sex?

LOL! That is messed up! Lenny Bruce had it right.

[TheOldLady]

Happy New Year. Yay, 5771!

[Slings and Arrows]

L’chaim!

[Mr. Jeeves]

LOL! That is messed up! Lenny Bruce had it right.

Explaining violence doesn't make parents uncomfortable. Very many cultural values in America are based on not making parents feel uncomfortable.

[Slings and Arrows]

[allmendream]

I guess growing up on a farm, I didn't really encounter that problem. The biology was quite clear to me at a very early age.

[TheOldLady]

OMGoodness! Where did you get that? That is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen!

[Slings and Arrows]

Blasted if I remember. I’ll post a few more when I finish my lunch.

[blf1776]

Cool picture.

[Slings and Arrows]

*BURP*

[TheOldLady]

Visual whiskey. Or LSD. Cheap and legal!

[Slings and Arrows]

[TheOldLady]

€gŽåK|éŸ.

[Slings and Arrows]

The “Coexist” guys got nuthin’ on you!

[TheOldLady]

Office Word “insert symbol.” Works every time.

[Eaker]

Despite your eyes telling you that the letter A is sitting on a dark gray square, and that the letter B is on a much lighter shade of gray, believe it or not, the squares are the EXACT same color!

As grays go not even really close.

[MaryFromMichigan]

?
It’s exactly the same.