This '3D' Crosswalk Uses an Optical Illusion to Slow Drivers

Crosswalks are meant to tell drivers to yield to pedestrians, but too often they're treated as a suggestion rather than a rule. If the possibility of hitting someone isn't enough to slow speeding drivers, two artists from Gujarat, India are hoping this sneaky optical illusion will do the trick.

As WIRED reports, Shakuntala Pandya and daughter Saumya Pandya Thakkar have teamed up to redesign the classic white-striped crosswalk to look like roadblocks jutting up from the street. To drivers on the highway in the west Indian city of Ahmedabad, the shapes will look like three-dimensional structures from far away. But the artists say the illusion fades as cars get closer, so it shouldn't lead to any motorists slamming on their breaks to avoid crashing into something that isn't there. 

Highway officials have experimented with similar 3D crosswalks designs here in the states. A few years ago, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation transformed the plain white blocks of one crosswalk by painting brightly colored shapes around them to give them the illusion of being raised from the rest of the street. Parts of Chicago have also featured eye-catching 3D markings since the beginning of the decade. There's still no comprehensive research about whether these designs are actually effective. But in India, a country where traffic-related deaths are on the rise, experimenting with safer road signage can't hurt. 

[h/t WIRED]

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