By Vurdlak on September 17, 2010, with 26 Comments
I’ve been reading all around the net how Canada and Philadelphia are employing optical illusions to improve road safety. With all the controversy and safety questions around the this topic, I remembered how similar, yet much better implementation has been used by our local police, since middle of 2008. Back then, Croatian police started with the project involving cardboard cut-out police officers holding a radar. In very short time positive results were already visible.
Marcel Štrok, the chief of traffic police stated that “the number of traffic accidents has been cut in half, comparing to previous years before employing this experimental project in towns of Virovitica and Sisak.”
He explained how they were thinking what would be the best way to prevent traffic accidents, and how could they reach inside driver’s mind, reminding him to watch over that gas pedal. “The best thing about those cardboard radar-holding officers is that they cost less than $100 a piece”, Marcel added.
These cardboard officers were designed using photographs of real police officers, and the results were so realistic, that even today it isn’t rare for the role-model officers to get phone calls from their friends, saying how they saw then in action, while in fact they were at home at the time.
(24 votes)
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Very good idea, I think. Realistic as well.
I heard about the police doing that in California. People slowed down for a little while, and then they caught on to the trick. It became a game to shoot at the cardboard cutouts with bb guns. Since they weren’t working any more, the cutouts were removed and real police started standing there with radar guns again. Of course, nobody told the people with bb guns…
well THAt was really stupid on the police’s part -who were the smart ones to volunteer themselves THAT job?
If they tried this in L.A., the cardboard cutouts would be stolen in about 20 minutes. It would be kind of fun to have one in your house….
kinda shows u how crazy the world is, heh?
lol
your probably right lol
These have been successfully used in a variety of locations before. Their effectiveness as such wears off after people get used to them in any particular location. I have read that they are moved to various locations and alternated with real officers to increase effectiveness. I have seen just one in my travels and it seemed to work well. That one was at a construction site mounted on a trailer.
That is so funny Tim. So what did they get charged with?
The local police are now using large yellow lights mounted on trailors showing how fast you are traveling. Sometimes there is an unmarked police car waiting for an unknowing speedster. Don’t know if it works or not.
You can accomplish the same thing in your own car. Just park at the curb with a hair dryer and point it at cars as they go by. TeeHee.
Now this is how it should be done, not those children playing.
Traveling on country highway roads in Australia, through road works at night I’ve seen an object with red and blue flashing lights, imitating a police car. Could see it from 1-2kms away and it wasn’t until I passed it I realised I’d been fooled. Worked well.
I’m just waiting for the day when we will have holographic 3D models rather than cardboard cut-outs. But till then, it’s a brilliant idea. Surprisingly, they are not stolen. Are they?
BTW,
“saying how they saw theM in action,”
seems like a good idea, and not very expensive
We had a wooden dummy in a cop car placed at dirrerent places. He was known as woody lol. Pretty ovbious.
In my home town there are a lot of tourists. They just keep a police car parked on the side of the road in a few locations. They wash it once a week and put it back. It does the trick (except for the locals who know about it)
Vurdlak, I think you missed the point about the optical illusions here in Vancouver, Canada. Putting up a cardboard cut-out of a traffic cop might slow speeders, but they are trying to get drivers to look for kids on the road – the image they are testing is a small girl chasing a ball. They are trying to get drivers to be more aware of what is going on around them.
that’s great idea to stop accident
He would look in my family room
Cant thay find a better way too wast our money
Don’t get it
the cutout looks soo realistic i waz fooled
what is ‘policija’?
it’s Police in Slovenian