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According to the latest figures in India, around 11,000 of the lives lost on the country’s roads each year involve potholes or speed bumps.
An alarming 150,000 people are killed each year in road incidents in the country, though the World Health Organisation puts the figure as high as 200,000, and now the transport ministry is experimenting with optical illusions to try to force drivers to slow down – without the risk of them flying over physical bumps and causing injury.
We are trying out 3D paintings used as virtual speed breakers to avoid unnecessary requirements of speed breakers pic.twitter.com/M5r6zkO6uU
— Nitin Gadkari (@nitin_gadkari) April 26, 2016
Nitin Gadkari, the country’s minister of road transport, tweeted a picture of one of the “3D paintings” being trialled as part of the scheme.
According to The Times of India, authorities filed an order last month to have all speed breakers removed from the country’s motorways due to the high number of incidents.
Similar trials have been used in the US city of Philadelphia as well as cities in China. The Indian cities of Ahmedabad and Chennai are the first to try the concept.
However, early responders to Gadkari’s tweet argued that once drivers know the markings are an optical illusion, few will make the effort slow down.
