Canada unveils new speed bump: Stupidest idea ever

[chillspike]

In addition to the objection suggested in the article, did they ever think they might startle a driver so much they would veer and crash their car? I'm going to drive up to Vancouver right now and crash my car and sue the city just because people are such control freaks. teach 'em a lesson. In an effort to prevent accidents, let's cause them. Brainless.

Watch. They're going to get somebody killed over an optical illusion. Playing games with drivers eyesight. Brilliant. LOL Whoever thought up that one is a real winner.

Canada unveils new speed bump: optical illusion of a child
By Brett Michael Dykes



By Brett Michael Dykes brett Michael Dykes – Wed Sep 8, 1:52 pm ET

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."

[applegrove]

1. I hope it works. I used to walk to school as a kid. Quite a few times I crossed a busy street

without looking and someone had to slam on the breaks of their car. I was always daydreaming.

[madinmaryland]

2. Probably will cause a shitload more accidents as people are freaked out by

a "child" in the middle of the street.

Bad idea.

[Luciferous]

4. Exactly what I was thinking...

[gmoney]

3. "woah! Look at the kid in the giant shoes with the surfboard!"

[RandomThoughts]

5. It is a common flaw in thought processes.

What it will have is a short term effect, then it will acclimate people to seeing that, and if they really do have to stop, they wont see it.


It is effectively crying wolf.


Same reason rear red lights for brake lights on cars have gotten bigger and bigger over the decades. But headlights stay the same, one is meant to be seen, one is to light the way.




And why things are going to get more and more obvious if people don't correct things. Just thought about that.

[BlueJazz]

6. Damn!..Her Feet look like they came from a Frankenstien movie.!!

[cwydro]

7. That is a stupid idea.

Sheesh.

[Orrex]

8. Joke's on you--the speed bump is actually the guy on the left

[chillspike]

13. LOL

[myrna minx]

9. How many children are going to be killed because of the

desensitizing effect this illusion will create?

[elehhhhna]

21. not to mention swerve, flip, head-on collisions...

etc.

[old mark]

10. When the first 30 or so kids get run over because the driver thinks they are a

speed bump, the inate foolishness of this idea may sink in...

fucking Canadians....where's out border wall with THEM?


mark

[bluedigger]

11. I really can't believe this foolish idea was implemented.

Everybody in the decision making process for this one should be sacked for lack of common sense!

[Orrex]

12. And another thing...

Speedbumps work even after the first time because drivers know that they're there, and they decelerate in anticipation of the bump.

Once drivers realize that the holo-kid is just a flat image, they won't have any reason to slow down, and after the first or second time they'll just blaze right through it.


Stupid, stupid idea.

[elehhhhna]

22. & have a hearttattack when the driver in front of you plows over the holographic kid

duh alreaady.

[alphafemale]

14. This a brilliant way to Darwin out all the slow moving, mushroom-footed, long arm freaky kids

In about 3 months, we can start luring them off their porches with giant pink easter eggs that spin in the middle of the street.

[jobycom]

15. That's an odd corollary of the Darwin Awards.

Kids are going to die from the abysmally fatal stupidity of someone else's brilliant idea.

[Taitertots]

16. Funny Chalk though/speech bubble challenge

Who can put the funniest chalk speech/thought bubble over the child's head?

[HEyHEY]

17. Ah West Van they have so much money they can do this dumb shit.

[tigereye]

18. that seems rather dangerous- it might really scare people, cause them to

slam on their brakes, cause more accidents... I really don't think that's the way to go.

[IDemo]

19. A better idea:

[LisaL]

20. Who comes up with this stuff?

I'd think some people might freak out by slamming on the breaks when they see this in the middle of the road.
Other people might decide an actual child is just a hologram. Either way I fail to see how that is going to improve road safety.