Photo: Ralf Trylla / Town of Ísafjörður, Iceland
Ísafjörður, Iceland, recently installed a 3-D crosswalk on a centrally located street.
Optical-illusion speed bumps are getting to be a thing. Matt Rocheleau writes about the concept at the Boston Globe.
“A handful of cities around the world have painted optical illusions on roadways — think raised beams and even images of children — that appear, at first glance, to be blocking motorists’ paths.
“The idea is to get lead-footed drivers to put on the brakes. After all, if you think you’re going to hit a steel beam or a little girl chasing her ball, you’re going to slow down.
“Popular from New Delhi to a tiny town in Iceland, the most prevalent of these illusions are the striped lines made to look like [3-D] blocks floating in the middle of the road. …
“Officials in the other countries say the markings have contributed to better driving. And while they can add an element of surprise, officials in other locations said they haven’t seen any reports of drivers stopping so quickly that they’ve caused an accident.
“Initial measurements by the city’s traffic police found speeds dropped by 15 percent in the areas where 3-D crosswalks were installed last year, according to Yogesh Saini, founder of Delhi Street Art, which painted the crosswalks on the municipal council’s behalf.
” ‘As people got accustomed to seeing them, the speeds appear to have crept up some,’ Saini added in an e-mail. …
“In Western Canada, officials took the optical illusion even further when a nonprofit called The Community Against Preventable Injuries installed a 3-D decal on a road near a school to raise awareness about speeding in school zones.
“The decal, called ‘Pavement Patty,’ looked like a girl was in the street chasing a ball. It was installed temporarily.”
Thank goodness for “temporarily.” I’m all for any trompe-l’œil speed bumps that slow drivers down in areas with pedestrians, but please, no pictures of people! Once drivers get used to the images, do they then get used to charging fast at people? I hope communities will stick with floating blocks and steel beams.
More at the Boston Globe.
Photo: The Community Against Preventable Injuries
In West Vancouver Canada, a nonprofit installed a 3-D decal on a road near a school. I sure would worry about leaving this one out long enough for drivers to get used to it.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
What an interesting intersection of art and public policy/safety… Thank you for sharing!
More jobs for artists!
The 3D speed bumps are a neat idea.. but please no children… I’d have nightmares thinking I’d hit that child.
I’m with you, Deb!
Oh, my! I hadn’t seen the use of the 3D kids–that seems like an awful idea! But the other trompe-l’œil ideas seem pretty inspired to me.
Agreed. You have to wonder what people are thinking. They didn’t even measure whether the temporary decal actually slowed people down. You’d have to build a very strong case to justify having drivers ride over images of human beings.