3D Road Safety Measure Sparks Controversy
11:45am Thursday September 09, 2010
A school in Canada has come up with a novel way to make drivers slow down but critics fear it could actually end up causing more car accidents.
Image will be outside Ecole Pauline Johnson school for a week (Pic: CTV News)
An image of a little girl chasing after a ball has been painted on the road in front of Ecole Pauline Johnson elementary school in West Vancouver. From a few seconds away, the elongated image appears to approaching drivers to be three-dimensional, hopefully prompting them to slow down.
Measuring 42ft, it first appears as a blurred marking on the road but comes into focus as motorists get closer. But there are fears that the image could cause motorists such alarm they may slam on their brakes too suddenly or veer off the road. However, a local resident says that the image does not look realistic but is enough to make drivers slow down.
Cathy Imrie told the Vancouver Sun newspaper: "You're not going to drive and go, 'Oh my god, I hit a child', but it looks like a child. "It's enough to cause you to think." The 3-D optical illusion will be in place for one week. The initiative is a joint project between West Vancouver police and Preventable.ca, which works to promote public safety, reports CTV News.
