When is a speed bump not a speed bump? When it's a faux traffic calming device merely painted on the road. Philadelphia is trotting out "Drive CarePhilly," a program that simultaneously gets a raspberry for its name and its execution. The aim of the effort is to slow down speeding drivers, and one technique involves a tromp l'oeil ruse to make drivers go "What the heck is that?" and slow down. Philadelphia's traffic manager Charles Denny apparently thinks the plastic material laid down at some intersections looks like a hump in the roadway; whatever you say, chief. While not convincing as a speed bump, the appliques definitely catch attention, and might work briefly until drivers on their regular route get wise. Our low opinion of this boondoggle is shared by sharp-witted Fark commenters, who offer alternate scenarios on this program's success. It's good that they're trying something, though, even if we've added heat instead of light to the discussion. Thanks for the tip, Scott!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
MastrCake @ Jun 18th 2008 8:06AM
Yea, sure it'll work. Once. Per driver.
philly_breakz @ Jun 18th 2008 8:09AM
"Drive CarePhilly" eh?
This could also work as an advertising campaign for Caerphilly in Wales. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caerphilly
or maybe even: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caerphilly_cheese
Well it made me laugh.
bruno @ Jun 18th 2008 8:21AM
bad idea. How long till drivers ignore them and then when they see a real one they hit it at the speed limit and take out some suspension parts.
Chuck @ Jun 18th 2008 8:28AM
First thing i thought, goodbye frontlip.
ambientFLIER @ Jun 18th 2008 8:30PM
That actually is a good idea, not a bad one. Whoever tries to ignore a speedbump gets their suspension wrecked.
Neil Schelly @ Jun 18th 2008 8:22AM
I can see this getting ignored by the locals clearly. But anyone who may not be from the area probably will get confused and/or distracted and those are not the people who you want to get sensory overload driving through your streets.
-N
Paul @ Jun 18th 2008 8:31AM
Ugh... this is simply to make driving easier on the out of town yokels during this time of year.
Note to tourists: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't drive in Center City.
Solo Racer @ Jun 18th 2008 1:45PM
I've driven in Center City. No worse than Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Albuquerque, Edinburgh or non-tourist Mexican cities. In fact, Boston was worse; Albuquerque a close second.
Greg @ Jun 18th 2008 8:34AM
Great, so now I'll be driving in the city and someone's going to swerve into my lane to avoid something that doesn't actually exist. Sounds like a much safer commute. Thanks.
mr.ed @ Jun 18th 2008 1:23PM
Absofreakinlutely.
Elizabeth @ Jun 19th 2008 2:20AM
I agree. My first thought was they look like ramps and I could see a driver thinking that they would damage the car in some way and swerve. Why didn't they just paint a rounded bump or use the 10 dollars they spent in paint to buy concrete and make a real speed bump??
Disgruntled Goat @ Jun 18th 2008 8:37AM
'Traffic Calming' is the work of Satan. We need to be focusing on getting traffic moving quickly and efficiently, not arbitrarily slowing people down. All traffic calming does is aggravate people, increase traffic and waste gas.
If there's a speeding problem then they need to either revisit the speed limit, address the issue that's causing the problem or step up enforcement.
Guenther @ Jun 18th 2008 10:16AM
We had Traffic Calming in Germany in the 80's. The Lefties got funding for it and then later some other lefties conceded that it wasted fuel and got funding to have them removed.
garlinski @ Jun 18th 2008 10:55AM
I see your point, but Traffic Calming is needed. I live in West Hartford, CT and I live on what has become a Cut Thru street for the locals and now large trucks. It's a residential road that was not designed for large trucks and soccer moms in large SUVs driving double the speed limit. I witness it on a regualr basis. Stop signs and any other way of slowing traffic is needed. People are too distracted as it is now in their cars with coffee, make-up, crackberry, cell phone and little johnny in back crying for his sippy cup and fruit loops. I have a 19 month old and we thought we bought a house on a calm street. Now our town is trying to come up with slowing people down. Anything will help. Not sure about 3D pitcograms(sp?) on the street. How about an old fashioned stop sign at intersections? We have 2 on a 1 mile long road and I never see people do the speed limit on the road and there are 3 other intersections. 3 stop signs at the other intersections would do 2 thigns: 1. slow people down because they'll never make it to 3rd gear and 2. eventually they will get sick of having to stop at each intersection, change to the main roads, hence, the traffic has been calmed.
PLUS... why do you (not you specifically) need to do 60 in a 35mph residential road anyway?
Solo Racer @ Jun 18th 2008 1:48PM
The answer to people using residential streets as high-speed short cuts is called a dead end. Residents have to trade inconvenience for less mayhem.
h @ Jun 19th 2008 1:31AM
my friend lives on a 'cut-through' street, and I agree that they should do something to slow the traffic through the neighborhood. what my friend does when he is outside with his kids is set out 3 construction cones, about 3 or 4 feet into the road. it seems to work well! he only leaves them out when his kids are outside because he doesn't want people to catch on to his trick.
Jeff Johnson @ Jun 18th 2008 8:47AM
Whoever thought of this needs to be fired. First thing I see happening is some blonde bimbo on her cell, putting on her makup, whie changing her kid (oh yeah and driving) sees this, slams on her brakes and causes a whole lot of trouble.
If people wanted to make it safer, make the driving tests more stringent and test more frequently, take the elderly off the road, and instead of ticketing for speeding, go after the people that really cause problems, such as the slow left lane drivers, people on cell phones, etc etc.
phooky @ Jun 18th 2008 8:58AM
hahaha looks like the excitebike ramps
http://images35.fotki.com/v1206/photos/5/59052/3695137/excitespeedbumps-vi.jpg
khitsicker- fark
K @ Jun 18th 2008 5:49PM
Lol, that was the first thing I thought as well. Nice chop.
Randy @ Jun 18th 2008 9:58PM
Duuude! That's awesome! LOL