The ghost of “slow the hell down!”
Posted by Tom Megginson | 5-09-2010 22:34 | Category: Road safetyIt sounds like an urban legend in the making: you’re driving towards a school zone, have failed to slow down, and suddenly a spectral 3-D image of a little girl chasing a ball rises up from the pavement in front of you, only to descend again to the depths after you’ve braked.
It’s actually all an illusion, an installation to be placed in West Vancouver on 22nd Street, just north of Inglewood Avenue, and very close to École Pauline Johnson Elementary School, by BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation, Preventable and the District of West Vancouver. The cost of the single installation is CAD $15,000.
There is obviously some concern about the startling illusion causing crashes. From the Vancouver Sun:
Bob Dewar, a psychologist who specializes in driver behaviour and traffic safety, said, “If [the image] really does look like a child, someone may slam on their brakes and get rear-ended or they may swerve to avoid this child that isn’t really a child.”
However, the advertisers insist that the effect will be gradual, with the 3D image looking like an indistinguishable mark from far away, but gradually forming the the image of the girl and ball at about 30 metres. The District insists that drivers will have enough time to stop safely when they realize it is an image of a little girl – if they are travelling at the posted speed limit of 30 km/h.
But that’s the question, isn’t it? Drivers who disregard school zone signs to begin with may react dangerously to a more sudden illusion, especially if they are intoxicated.
UPDATE: CBC news video coverage here.
Advertiser:
BCAA Traffic Foundation
Source:
The Globe and Mail
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