Canada unveils new speed bump: optical illusion of a child

[Sporkman]

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."...

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

[Dustin2128]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.

[pwnst*r]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.

^This by a landslide.

This is by far the dumbest idea this year.

[FuturePilot]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.


^This by a landslide.

This is by far the dumbest idea this year.

This ^&^^

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

I fail to see how this could possibly be a good thing.

1- People might slam on their breaks causing collisions
2- People are going to be too distracted by the fake kid in the road to see real kids running into the road.
3- *The I thought it was a speed bump issue.

[t0p]

Why an "optical illusion" of a child? If they put a real child in the road, that might persuade some drivers to kill their speed.

OTOH, me and my buddies might end up competing on how many kids we can hit in one night. Would reversing back over a badly injured child count as 1 or 2 points. I often get mired down in the details of these sports' rules.

[Ctrl-Alt-F1]

OTOH, me and my buddies might end up competing on how many kids we can hit in one night. Would reversing back over a badly injured child count as 1 or 2 points. I often get mired down in the details of these sports' rules.
Lame.

[MasterNetra]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.

+1

Good idea maybe for a stop sign, but not a speed bump.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.

Indeed. One place I go from time to time (by a lake a few kilometres from the middle of nowhere), someone has an actual life-sized dummy dressed up to look like a child stepping out to cross the road. Not an optical illusion, not designed to scare the living daylights out of you, and quite obviously fake once you're in range to do any damage. Further, passing that deterant does not involve running it over, which is the big flaw with West Van's lame idea.

All I can see this doing is to desensitize drivers to the idea of kids standing in the middle of roads after a few weeks of flattening fake ones.

[drs305]

That idea is even dumber than one they tried in Arizona (US) about twenty years ago. On a long straight piece of Interstate they put a digital speed readout (mph) suspended from an overpass. The idea was that drivers would slow when they saw how fast they were going.

It was removed a week or so later as an inordinately large number of drivers were attempting to see if the digital readout would display 3 digits.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

That idea is even dumber than one they tried in Arizona (US) about twenty years ago. On a long straight piece of Interstate they put a digital speed readout (mph) suspended from an overpass. The idea was that drivers would slow when they saw how fast they were going.

It was removed a week or so later as an inordinately large number of drivers were attempting to see if the digital readout would display 3 digits.

Of course, this is Arizona you're talking about, where street signs are normally riddled with bullet holes :P

They did that where I live (town SouthWest of Vancouver) and it has been pretty effective. There are big signs saying “watch your speed,” and I can sense people worry as they slow down past them. I think the difference is there are a lot of cops here with nothing better to do, so people are actually quite scared of getting speeding tickets. Well, and it isn't a straight road. That probably helps :)

[Dustin2128]

On a long straight piece of Interstate they put a digital speed readout (mph) suspended from an overpass. The idea was that drivers would slow when they saw how fast they were going.

It was removed a week or so later as an inordinately large number of drivers were attempting to see if the digital readout would display 3 digits.
*rimshot*

[phrostbyte]

That idea is even dumber than one they tried in Arizona (US) about twenty years ago. On a long straight piece of Interstate they put a digital speed readout (mph) suspended from an overpass. The idea was that drivers would slow when they saw how fast they were going.

It was removed a week or so later as an inordinately large number of drivers were attempting to see if the digital readout would display 3 digits.

Those things are useless without an actual camera that captures your license plate if it catches you speeding. :) Automatic speed / red light radar/camera duos are actually common in some parts of Europe and it's making inroads in US as well.

[cprofitt]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.


+ infinity

That idea is the dumbest idea I have ever read about

[drs305]

Those things are useless without an actual camera that captures your license plate if it catches you speeding. :) Automatic speed / red light radar/camera duos are actually common in some parts of Europe and it's making inroads in US as well.

I think that is why you are seeing more of the speed readouts these days. The drivers never know when there is a camera attached recording the violators.

[Rasa1111]

oh how brilliant.

Pfft.

Talk about dumb.

and what about the same people who drive past it everyday?
After the first time or two, they will just disregard it, and keep going like jack@$$3$.

doh.

[pwnst*r]

Of course, this is Arizona you're talking about, where street signs are normally riddled with bullet holes :P



Do you even know what you're talking about? Too much television is not good for you.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Do you even know what you're talking about? Too much television is not good for you.

I am being facetious. However, I definitely remember driving through Utah / Arizona and passing a number of signs and mailboxes with bullet holes through them. I may be mixing up my memories a little with regards to geography, but I know what I saw and it was quite excellent.

[Windows Nerd]

Great, I have to learn to drive with these horrendously stupid things.

[kaldor]

Who the hell agreed to let this come into effect ?

[Khakilang]

Over here we actually have speed bump in most of the housing estate to minimize pedestrian fatalities. They don't care whether your car collide with another car just as long you don't knock the people off the streets.

[fatality_uk]

I saw a TV program once were the leading road safety experts were all in agreement. I paraphrase but the jist is: Remove air bags, Place a 5" metal spike in the centre of the steering wheel and that should cut RTA's dramatically.

Harsh, but I know I would drive VERY carefully after that :)

[Mr. Picklesworth]

Over here we actually have speed bump in most of the housing estate to minimize pedestrian fatalities. They don't care whether your car collide with another car just as long you don't knock the people off the streets.

That would be correct.
Pedestrians have no defenses against your car. Cars do.

[undecim]

I saw a TV program once were the leading road safety experts were all in agreement. I paraphrase but the jist is: Remove air bags, Place a 5" metal spike in the centre of the steering wheel and that should cut RTA's dramatically.

Harsh, but I know I would drive VERY carefully after that :)

And then you find a 5" metal spike in your skull after a 20 MPH collision with a drunk driver due to no fault of you own... Nice.

[mips]

I think that is why you are seeing more of the speed readouts these days. The drivers never know when there is a camera attached recording the violators.

Over here they started implementing Average Speed cameras. Camera at point A records the date & time your vehicle crosses that point point and then much further along Camera B does the same. Based on the two times & distance it then calculates your average speed. So even over a stretch of 30km (example) they will know if you were speeding in that stretch. This works much better than one camera recording your speed at a specific place.

[julio_cortez]

That idea is even dumber than one they tried in Arizona (US) about twenty years ago. On a long straight piece of Interstate they put a digital speed readout (mph) suspended from an overpass. The idea was that drivers would slow when they saw how fast they were going.
It was removed a week or so later as an inordinately large number of drivers were attempting to see if the digital readout would display 3 digits.
People do this on a regular basis here in Italy.
But from time to time, little after the speed readout there's the police with a real speed trap.. ):P):P):P

[del_diablo]

And then you find a 5" metal spike in your skull after a 20 MPH collision with a drunk driver due to no fault of you own... Nice.

You miss the point:
The worst "danger" on the road is the Joe Smoe, our arveage car driver.
By removing the airbag and adding a deathtrap, Joe Smoe will not act like a total maniac.
The option is of course to have stricter demands on actually getting the drivers license(dunno about most countries, but over here a lot is spotable by the driver tutors on the few runs needed to get the license).

[mips]

The option is of course to have stricter demands on actually getting the drivers license(dunno about most countries, but over here a lot is spotable by the driver tutors on the few runs needed to get the license).

In many countries (Europe for example) the driving tests are hard compared to the USA for example and also expensive. I reckon the requirements to get a drivers license are way to low in many places.

[cguy]

In many countries (Europe for example) the driving tests are hard compared to the USA for example and also expensive. I reckon the requirements to get a drivers license are way to low in many places.

lol!

[forrestcupp]

The fake child thing is a pretty stupid idea. There wasn't a lot of brainstorming over this one. I predict it won't be very long before they remove them and outlaw it.


I saw a TV program once were the leading road safety experts were all in agreement. I paraphrase but the jist is: Remove air bags, Place a 5" metal spike in the centre of the steering wheel and that should cut RTA's dramatically.

Harsh, but I know I would drive VERY carefully after that :)Now that's a good idea.


And then you find a 5" metal spike in your skull after a 20 MPH collision with a drunk driver due to no fault of you own... Nice.
Then maybe they should only install them in the cars of people who get a DUI. ;)

[mips]

lol!

What's so funny? I'm referring to European countries like Germany etc?

Or did you assume that I though Europe was a country?

[Bölvaður]

I found a video of one of these. It's not very convincing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyBQw2Onco

So also when you are used to drive over these things you might not feel too bad when you actually hit a kid. So it prepares you to avoid the trauma.

[Grenage]

I found a video of one of these. It's not very convincing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyBQw2Onco

So also when you are used to drive over these things you might not feel too bad when you actually hit a kid. So it prepares you to avoid the trauma.


Ah well, at least it might be a good defence if you hit a kid playing with a pink ball. "honest gov', I thought it was a painting on the road". A sure way to get these cancelled is for parents to dress their kids in clothing matching the depicted, then tell them to stand in the street.

[oedipuss]

Might as well go all the way :P http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/Blair.htm
(political connotations irrelevant)

There was another one with lava, but I can't seem to find it ..

Honestly though, I'd think it would be more sensible to keep the actual road absolutely clean of any marks, lines, signs etc, so anything on it would stand out immediately..

[forrestcupp]

I found a video of one of these. It's not very convincing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjyBQw2Onco

So also when you are used to drive over these things you might not feel too bad when you actually hit a kid. So it prepares you to avoid the trauma.

From a distance, it's actually more convincing than I thought it would be.

[chriswyatt]

This is ridiculously dumb.

[Shining Arcanine]

hum, wouldn't you think there would be at once a massive spike in child fatalities ("oh, I thought it was just the speed bump...") and a massive amount of attempts to swerve around the speed bump. Bad idea.

Exactly.