Speed Bumps of the Future: Creepy Optical Illusion Children

From: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/

Today, West Vancouver officials will roll out a new way to keep drivers alert and slow them down: a little girl speed bump. A trompe-l’œil, the apparently 3D girl located near the École Pauline Johnson Elementary School is actually a 2D pavement painting, similar to the one shown here.

In what sounds like a terrifying experience, the girl’s elongated form appears to rise from the ground as cars approach, reaching 3D realism at around 100 feet, and then returning to 2D distortion once cars pass that ideal viewing distance. 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.

The illusion is part of a $15,000 safety program that will run this week, led by the BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation and the public awareness group Preventable.ca. As drivers approach, the police will monitor the fake girl’s effects. Despite fears that drivers may stop suddenly or swerve into actual 3D children, David Duane of the BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation told CTV news that the bump was meant to bring attention to driver-caused pedestrian injuries, and that the fake girl should not cause accidents:

“It’s a static image. If a driver can’t respond to this appropriately, that person shouldn’t be driving….”

In 2008, Philadelphia used similar, virtual speed bumps–more common in Europe–in its “Drive CarePhilly” campaign. Philadelphia, however, chose a less anthropomorphic route–opting for three spikes.

Which are the worst states for tickets?

As the traditional summer driving season gets under way this weekend, a drivers'-rights group ranks the states on driver friendliness. New Jersey? Fuhgeddaboudit.

By Catherine Holahan

MSN Money

Diane Daniel knows her drive to the North Carolina coast this Memorial Day weekend will take longer. But it won't be the traffic slowing her down -- it will be the cops.

"I got the only speeding ticket of my life there a few years ago," explained Daniel, a freelance travel writer. Stretches of road leading to the beach are perfect spots for police to snare speeders and add tourist dollars to their towns' coffers, she added.

Luckily for Daniel, she's driving in North Carolina this weekend. That state rates low on the National Motorists Association's recent ranking of the worst places to drive due to what they characterize as unfair traffic laws and public monitoring. (See the full list here.)

Drivers in New Jersey are the ones who really need to watch out, according to the motorists group. The state ranked the worst based on 17 factors, including:

• Speed limits.
• The use of red-light or speed cameras.
• Laws banning cell phone use while driving.
• Whether speeders are allowed jury trials.
• The number of speed traps (weighted by population).

New Jersey ranked seventh-worst in the speed-trap category. But it was the state's traffic laws that put New Jersey atop the list.

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New Jersey lost points for using roadblocks, denying speeders jury trials and capping the highway speed limit at 65 mph, according to the motorists group. More than half of U.S. states have maximum highway speed limits of 70 mph or higher. In fairness to New Jersey, though, states that are more densely populated tend to have lower speed limits. Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the two most densely populated states after New Jersey, also have statewide 65 mph limits on their freeways.

"We think that cities are basically using some speeding laws to make money and they are not improving safety at all," says Aaron Quinn, a spokesman for the motorists group.

The organization, which takes a libertarian view of traffic laws, was founded in 1982 as part of an effort to fight against a nationwide 55 mph speed limit.

It conducted its worst-places study for the first time this year in part to examine the belief that fiscally challenged municipalities would be particularly motivated to enforce traffic laws during holidays to raise revenues, rather than simply to keep roads safe.

"It is not exactly a well-kept secret that many traffic laws, enforcement practices, and traffic courts are more about generating revenue and political posturing, than they are about traffic safety," Jim Baxter, the organization's president, said in a prepared statement. "During holidays, like the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, we're bombarded with messages about intensified enforcement, 'click it or ticket,' and horrendous fines."

There is some evidence to back up the group's claims. Earlier this year, Michael Makowsky, an assistant professor at Towson University, and George Mason University professor Thomas Stratmann released a study of Massachusetts traffic stops showing that strapped towns and cities were more likely to issue speeding tickets, particularly to out-of-towners who don't pay the areas' municipal taxes. Drivers from other towns had a 10% higher chance of getting a ticket, while drivers with out-of-state plates were 20% more likely to be ticketed.

Those findings echoed an earlier study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which found that municipalities issued significantly more tickets in years after their revenue declined.

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The hidden costs of a traffic ticket
If you are issued a speeding ticket, think twice before paying it off immediately.

"Our results suggest that tickets are used as a revenue-generation tool rather than solely a means to increase public safety," report co-authors Gary Wagner, an economist at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Thomas Garrett, a researcher at the St. Louis Fed, said of their July 2007 study.

Increased ticketing isn't just about padding town coffers, however. In a follow-up study that Makowsky and Strattman conducted, the economists found that increased ticketing does reduce the number of traffic accidents. So perhaps ticketing does make drivers safer, as well as making towns richer.

"It definitely changed my driving habits," Daniel said of her ticket. "I will not be speeding."

National Motorists Association rankings, from worst to best:

Rank	State	Rank	State	Rank	State
1	New Jersey	18	Florida	35	Hawaii
2	Ohio	19	Pennsylvania	36	Arkansas
3	Maryland	20	North Carolina	37	Alaska
4	Louisiana	21	Alabama	38	Kansas
5	New York	22	Rhode Island	39	Mississippi
6	Illinois	23	West Virginia	40	Wisconsin
7	Delaware	24	New Hampshire	41	Utah
8	Virginia	25	Arizona	42	South Dakota
9	Washington	26	New Mexico	43	Indiana
10	Massachusetts	27	Missouri	44	Minnesota
11	Colorado	28	Texas	45	North Dakota
12	Oregon	29	Oklahoma	46	Kentucky
13	Tennessee	30	Nevada	47	Nebraska
14	California	31	Georgia	48	Montana
15	Michigan	32	Connecticut	49	Idaho
16	Vermont	33	South Carolina	50	Wyoming
17	Maine	34	Iowa