At least, we'd like to think so.

Filed under: Etc., Legislation and Policy, Green Daily, USA

Photo: Mike DeNardo

In what strikes us as a bit... uh, stupid, Philadelphia is actually planning to install fake speed bumps on some city streets in an effort to slow drivers down. Obviously, the goal is to increase safety, but slowing drivers down often has the added benefit of reducing pollution and fuel consumption. According to Charles Denny, the city's chief traffic engineer, "Plastic material that is laid down, and it gives the illusion of being a hump in the roadway. And therefore people react to it as though it were a hump, and slow down. The driver sees this in the roadway, and they think that its some protrusion up out of the roadway, and not a perfectly flat surface. So they slow down before they drive over it."

Will it work? We have no idea, but we'd imagine that drivers will get the picture that there is no real bump in the road after their first experience. At least, we'd like to think so. Is this really a better idea than real speed bumps?

[Source: KYW Newsradio via Gizmodo]