The Indian government has rolled out ingenious new “3D” zebra crossings – optical illusions that trick drivers into slowing down at intersections.
Images and videos of the original traffic control began to appear online, quickly garnering attention of the rest of the world.
It all began with India’s Minister of Road Transport, Nitin Gadkari, tweeting a picture of the optical illusion that showed a zebra crossing apparently popping out of the flat surface of the road.
“We are trying out 3D paintings used as virtual speed breakers to avoid unnecessary requirements of speed breaker,” Gadkari said.
The idea originated with two women from Ahmedabad, in western India. Saumya Pandya Thakkar and Shakuntala Pandya developed the 3D design that they hoped would trick drivers into slowing down.
Similar experiments were introduced in China in 2008, according to media reports.