3D street painting designed to slow traffic leave everyone pointing out the same dangerous issue

Some towns across the world have been testing out 3D-style street art that’s designed to slow drivers down.

Innovative pedestrian crossings have been painted on roads to create a 3D optical illusion. Up close, the design is very clearly a painting. But from a distance, the painted zebra lines look like they’re hovering above the road. The idea is to get the attention of drivers who should be slowing down once they encounter the zebra stripes.

The small fishing town of Ísafjörður in Iceland is one of the places that trialled the idea, along with a small town in China and Cysoing in France.

Icelandic environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla called for its placement in Ísafjörður after seeing a similar project in New Delhi, India. With the help of the street painting company Vegmálun GÍH, his vision of pedestrian crossing signs became a reality.

A three dimensional zebra crossing in Tauranga, New Zealand (Steve Clancy Photography / Getty)

“A pedestrian crossing like this makes it look like there’s something blocking the road,” said the firm behind the painting work.

Some variations of the design include images like a child chasing a ball in the road - all designed to make drivers think twice before speeding through.

However, with the news spreading across social media, many people on a Reddit discussion thread are convinced that the 3D illusions aren't actually such a good idea.

"I was just gonna say, this looks cool and all but each will only work once for each driver and may lead to accidents if idiots start assuming obstacles are just more 3D paint," one user wrote.

"I remember reading an article about this a LONG time ago and this is exactly what happened," someone else agreed. "People learned to ignore things that looked like what was painted. Even if it was real."

Another added: "This is what worries me. If you drive down that street a lot and you KNOW there’s a painting that looks like a fake kid maybe you don’t slow down when you see something that looks like a kid."

One summed it up quite bluntly: "Great, these people never heard of The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

However, one of the co-designers of a similar 3D crossing in Ahmedabad, India weighed in on their project's safety.

"It does not lead to sudden breaking risks, as on [the] actual spot it is just mild slanting strips with micro 3D effects, mainly considering safety of the drivers," she wrote, as per the BBC.