Canada has decided to implement a controversial piece of technology, all in the name of getting speedy drivers to slow down. Speed bumps just don’t seem to be doing the trick so officials in West Vancouver are opting for more extreme measures to get the message across to drivers. Near Ecole Pauline Johnson Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon, a 2-dimensional began popping up as drivers approached the school. The image was that of a young child playing in the street.
According to this article, “Its designers created the image to give drivers who travel at the street’s recommended 18 miles per hour (30 km per hour) enough time to stop before hitting Pavement Patty–acknowledging the spectacle before they continue to safely roll over her.” As a Columbia personal injury lawyer , my first concern was that this “spectacle” might cause drivers to slam on the brakes and possibly be rear-ended or swerve into actual children on the side of the road. However, the image is designed to look more obviously 2 dimensional as you approach.
According to David Duane of the BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation, this shouldn’t be the case. He claims, “It’s a static image. If a driver can’t respond to this appropriately, that person shouldn’t be driving…”. The hologram will be shown over the next week and police will monitor driver’s response. The $15,000 program is sponsored by the BCAA and Preventable.ca.
I think their intentions are good, but I just don’t know that this is the best way to get drivers to slow down and decrease pedestrian accidents . Afterall, what happens when drivers become conditioned to seeing fake images of children playing in the streets? Our brains could become accustomed to see fake children and driver’s may not slow when there is a real child playing in the road. What do you think?