Optical Illusion: The New Speed Bump?
In Canada, traffic regulation has also become high tech as they start using a system that creates an optical illusion of playing children to make motorists ease off the gas pedal and slow down. This was supposed to encourage drivers to reduce their speed to 18 miles per hour so that they could easily stop at Pavement Patty.
What the new system does is project a two dimensional image of a child playing. There is a pavement painting that seems to rise up as a driver gets closer to it. At the distance of 100 feet, the image reaches its full 3D realism.
The system, which was unveiled at the vicinity of the Ecole Pauline Johnson Elementary School is apparently meant for neighborhoods and areas where there is a higher percentage of kids going to the streets.
But as in anything revolutionary, there is the other point of view. Some people are worried that when motorists have been accustomed to the optical image, there might be a tendency to ignore it posing the danger of unfortunately hitting an actual child in the future. How about you, how do you see it?
Comments
Comment from DataHavok
Time: 2010-11-12 - 06:04
Ever heard of The Boy Who Cried Wolf?
It’s a bad idea to condition and train people to drive over a 3D image of something you do not actually want them to drive over. If you place these things around enough (and people are conditioned easily, it may not take many), people will learn to ignore the 3D image of children playing, and just go racing over it, even when it’s real.
This is an even worse idea than using the Amber Alert system for advertisements. It is always a bad idea to desensitize people through decoys and distraction if you want people to take the real thing seriously.
Remember, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
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