Fake 3D zebra patterns to stop pedestrian accidents at crosswalks

A small fishing town in Iceland has come up with an innovative idea to slow down drivers at crosswalks: They are painting a 3D patterns that makes the lines look like roadblocks, reports BoredPanda.com.

"Since 2008 the deaths of pedestrians in traffic have increased 41 percent, with more than 6.000 fatalities per year. Though there are many causes for that, unlit and unsafe road crossings and reckless drivers might make the bigger part of it, and many countries have different ways of dealing that, but Iceland probably has the most creative solution for road safety", writes BoredPanda in the article.

In the small fishing town of Ísafjörður, Iceland, a development in pedestrian crossing safety has been introduced –. A new kind of speed bumps has been painted that appears to be 3D by way of a cleverly-detailed optical illusion.

The innovative design give foot-travelers the feeling of walking on air, and  the 3D painting also supposedly gets the attention of drivers, who are at least in theory forced  to slow down their speed once they spot the seemingly floating ‘zebra stripes.’

Icelandic environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla called for its placement in Ísafjörður after seeing a similar project being carried out in New Delhi, India. With the help of street painting company Vegmálun GÍH, his vision of pedestrian crossing signs became a reality.

More info: Gústi Productions, Vegmálun GÍH (Icelandic)

Kansas City introduced similar crosswalks in 2018

Since then, other cities have followed their example:

"City authorities in Kansas City have installed a novel 3-D crosswalk in one of its neighborhoods in an effort to slow down speeding motorists", writes IcelandMag.is:

According to The Kansas City Star the crosswalk is inspired by and modeled after a similar crosswalk in the small Icelandic fishing town Ísafjörður. 

"3-D crosswalks are not an Icelandic invention: Similar optical illusion crosswalks have been painted onto roads in China, India and Russia, but according to the Kansas City Star it was the Icelandic experiment which inspired city officials in Kansas City. We at Iceland Magazine like to claim at least some credit, as we broke the story for an international audience last year", writes https://icelandmag.is.