Low Tech Biometrics: City Tries Novel Way to Slow Down Drivers
For you vehicle safety enthusiasts there’s a bit of interesting news coming out of Vancouver, British Columbia this week. Drivers passing through a suburb of West Vancouver have experienced what might be the replacement for the old fashioned speed bump – a little girl in the street chasing after a ball. Of course, this isn’t a real little girl, it’s a painting on the road done with 3D perspective and made to look real. The effect is when you’re traveling down the road at a high speed, you see what appears to be an actual little girl racing across and into your lane. You’ve probably seen pictures this art form passed around the Internet before – artists drawing realistic images on sidewalks and street corners – holes and stairs and whatnot – drawn at a cascading perspective to make it appear quite real to the human eye.
The 3D image in West Vancouver was done in association with the British Columbia Automobile Association. Their goal? To get drivers to slow down. It’s a creative alternative to traditional traffic calming techniques and now a hot topic, as many citizens are upset about the imagery.
“I think it’s awful. I think it’s dangerous,” says Sam Schwartz, former New York City traffic commissioner who was interviewed in the original article. “I think drivers are always scanning and suddenly they see this image appear, they may very well panic.”
The project has apparently received some criticism online as well, though citizens of West Vancouver seem to applaud the city’s fight to get drivers to slow down. It’s a chronic problem according to many residents, fearing for their children’s safety in the 20 mph zone near Ecole Pauline Johnson Elementary School.
The illusion of the girl “reminds us to shift our attitudes, and drive as though you’d expect a child to run into traffic,” says BCAA spokesman David Dunne. City officials are planning to expand the project as it’s had quite the effect, making motorists react to the sudden image.
This is not unlike many driving simulators that use eye tracking to follow drivers’ reactions to oncoming traffic and sudden obstacles similar to the image of the child running into traffic. I’d be curious to see an eye tracking study done on this section of road to further monitor drivers’ reactions and reaction times after they see it.
Traffic calming? City scares drivers with ’3D girl’ that runs into road
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