Optical Speedbumps

So as some some of you already might know, speed bumps aren't really all that good at slowing down drivers. We've all seen it: some slow down at the last minute and gun it the minute they pass, others go around the speed bump all together. Recently however, the British Columbia Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation developed a new system; an illusion of child jumping in front of your car. 


The picture is painted in such a way, that if your viewing it at just the right angle, the girl will look three-dimensional. The idea behind it is that as a driver gets closer the image will come into view and focus. In addition, the faster the car is traveling, the faster the child will appear. This way it will cause to driver to stop quicker.


The system is currently being tested in West Vancouver, Canada starting September 7 and will be removed after a week of evaluation. 


I think there is definite room for backfire here. What if a driver was suddenly to slam on the brakes to avoid the hitting "the little girl". This could cause the car behind him to slam in him. In addition what if a driver was to swerve to avoid the illusion causing it to hit an object on the side of the road or even other pedestrians. I can see the headline now, “Driver Runs Down 11 Schoolchildren on Sidewalk After Swerving to Miss Optical Illusion.”


This illusion system does remind me of the those crazy chalk drawings of cliffs and stuff like that.