Undisciplined and speeding drivers cause countless accidents every day. Most people would expect drivers to behave at least close to schools and hospitals, but statistics clearly demonstrate that in the US alone that 100 children lose their lives every year because of speeding drivers.
Eric and Isa, two children from an elementary school in Medford (Oregon), have devised a brilliant plan to build 3D crosswalks that can help with reducing this figure. Many drivers usually overlook a conventional crosswalk, but 3D crosswalks can create an illusion that slows them down, so they do not collide with it.
Building 3D crosswalks at schools
Nate Swain, a local artist, helped them to realise the idea of a 3D crosswalk that draws the driver’s attention from a distance. The impulse to create such a crosswalk came from a personal experience of Eric’s brother who was hit by a car. Both children are members of the Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility (CCSR) located in Medford. Such crosswalks have already started to be planned at other elementary schools, and with a little luck, this inspiring idea will spread to other cities and countries.
3D crosswalks in the world
Medford is not the first city with 3D crosswalks. You can find 3D crosswalks also in a small fishing town of Ísafjörður in Iceland. Icelandic environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla initiated construction of these crosswalks after seeing them in New Delhi, India. With the help of a street painting firm Vegmálun GÍH, his vision became a reality.
From a distance, the crosswalks look like floating blocks and drivers are, thus, forced to slow down. Pedestrians themselves can enjoy the illusion of walking on a floating crosswalk.
Source & credit: truththeory.com/2019/05/03/elementary-students-create-3d-crosswalk-that-forces-drivers-to-drive-slower/, boredpanda.com/3d-pedestrian-crossing-island, facebook.com/pg/bilastaedamalun.is/photos/?ref=page_internal
