New Zealand Creates Safety Billboard That Bleeds When It Rains

Officials in Papakura, New Zealand have come up with a billboard that bleeds when it rains. They hope it will encourage drivers to slow down when the weather makes conditions dangerous. Since the billboards have been erected, there hasn't been a fatal accident in the area.

Comments

Supernaturally effective

[Bovius]

The power of advertising compels you! To drive safely!

In the U.S.

[Anonymous Coward]

...we ought to erect a similar billboard that shits when politicians do ANYTHING.

Re:In the U.S.

[tuxedobob]

You're just trying to get goatse posted on a billboard in your community, aren't you?

How soon before...

[Registered Coward v2]

someone sees Jesus in one of the billboards?

Zero of nothing

[Shihar]

Since the billboards have been erected, there hasn't been a fatal accident in the area.

Of course, being New Zealand, since the billboard was erected there have not been any cars there either.

Re:Zero of nothing

[kreyszig]

Actually, anyone wanting to go south of Auckland pretty much has to go through Papakura, so this is quite some achievment.

Re:Zero of nothing

[gnick]

Thats really a small number though that could depend on multiple variables. How do we know that the same amount of cars passed through it? For all we know there could have been a road that was under construction that people use now. Also did the road get any more improvements? What about weather? There would be a big difference if last year there were lots of storms. Etc.

"Small" is entirely relative. Granted that road improvements, construction, weather, etc. could have affected numbers. (Freakish weather is less "variable" than the presence of bleeding billboards.) You are correct that there aren't enough data to do a thorough statistical analysis, but you seem to be grasping at straws. From 14 to 0 could be very statistically significant depending on the standard deviation from year-to-year and the elimination of outside influence. Just because 14 is "small" compared to your local Interstate exit doesn't mean that it's negligible for this stretch of NZ highway.

"TFA" is worthless, but speculating on potential spikes in common, relatively flat variables should not eliminate the speculation on effects of observable variation in very prominent and very uncommon variables. Put more simply, and in a car analogy, if you install a set of used tires and 2 blow out during your normal commute home, look first at your tires and then at potential anomalies in the road.

Plus, for all we know, most of those 14 deaths could have happened with one or two cars.

OK, if you're in NZ (or really pretty much anywhere but India) 14 people in "one or two" cars would be a lot. 14 people in my car (or most any car) would require opening the sun-roof and me meeting a bunch of midgets. If you're going to pedant statistics, refrain from speculating on obvious outliers. 14 deaths in a 1-car wreck on a NZ highway? *Scoff*

How Long?

[sycodon]

Until someone crashes while gawking at the bleeding billboards?

with a few more tweaks

[circletimessquare]

they also got the billboard to shit bats

making it the most goth/ emo billboard in the world

If you want to get people to slow down in the rain

[gurps_npc]

Put an electronic headline news billboard up. Then when it rains, put a fake headline like "Be on the look out for a nude 20 year old girl on Highway 3" I assure you, all the men will slow down and be on the look out for her.

Rain isn't causing those accidents

[redshirt]

After watching the video, the real cause of accidents is clear: they drive on the wrong side of the road!

Re:Rain isn't causing those accidents

[GreatDrok]

"After watching the video, the real cause of accidents is clear: they drive on the wrong side of the road!"

Amusing although more than half (66%) of the world's population actually does drive on the left but that is besides the point.

NZ has a real problem with bad drivers. People don't have any clue about stopping distances so tailgating is rampant so the number of related accidents is very high. The road surfaces aren't very good, cars aren't kept in good condition as the Warrant Of Fitness is cursory at best compared with say the MOT in the UK. I was appalled when I first moved here to find that the tyres on my recently bought car were OK as far as the WOF was concerned because they had tread on 80% of the surface (bald around the edges due to misaligned tracking) and passed just fine. The car would slide and aquaplane in the rain so I replaced the whole lot.

Basically, bad road awareness and poorly maintained cars is the main problem. Oh, and no insurance is required, not even third party so if someone crashes into you and they are uninsured you are stuffed. I bought fully comp insurance because of this.

The only real blessing is that the speed limit is so low (100 kph or 62 MPH max even on the few stretches of motorway) but even so, NZ drivers are scary!

Re:Rain isn't causing those accidents

[F�an�ro]

And if you count India, you should count it for both sides.
I am not sure how to tell which side they prefer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM

Re:I could be wrong here...

[oldspewey]

but I don't think it's really blood.

In related news, the New Zealand Health Bureau has stepped up calls for donors in the midst of what is being called "the greatest blood shortage crisis our nation has ever known."

Correlation is not causation

[Tyler Durden]

Why should we accept that the rain causes the billboard to bleed? Perhaps the bleeding of the billboard causes the rain...

You Are.

[davegravy]

Obviously they collected the blood from past accident victims (who never noticed the fine print on their organ donation card authorizing the use of their blood in accident prevention advertising campaigns)

Vista Pollution

[Fieryphoenix]

It's getting impossible to enjoy the scenery there any more because of all the bloody signs!