London is Using Optical Illusions To Make Cars Slow Down (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: London has an interesting idea to curb speeding -- magic. The British capital has painted optical illusions on its streets as part of a pilot program to get drivers to slow down, podcast 99% Invisible notes. The idea is both pretty simple and pretty clever: use a little sleight of hand to paint the streets to look like they have speed bumps on them, but don't use finite city resources to actually build speed bumps into the road. The 18-month pilot program was launched in September of last year, according to the BBC, and the city is still determining whether the black-and-white stencils are as effective as actual bumps to deter drivers from exceeding 20mph (as if traffic in London ever goes faster than 20 mph).

Comments

It'll work for a few weeks

[93 Escort Wagon]

Just long enough for a bureaucrat to declare victory and start looking for the next "success" to add to his resume.

Drivers will quickly adjust, and traffic will return to normal (bad).

Then, in a few years, someone will notice that "traffic has gotten bad again" and this same bureaucrat will be given the task of solving it, thanks to his supposed expertise.