Optical illusions have been around for a long time in different shapes. This time, a small fishing village in Iceland, Ísafjörður, decided to take advantage of the effect these illusions produce to slow down traffic and promote public safety.
The painting consists of a 3D pedestrian crossing, which makes people appear to be “walking on air” as they cross the street. The idea for the project comes from a similar one in New Delhi, India. It was in charge of environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla.
Trylla was searching for ideas to slow traffic in the village when he found the project in India and was inspired to create something similar for his hometown. Vegamálun GÍH was the painting company in charge of the project. It took the team several weeks of practice to be able to deliver such astonishing work.
The optical illusion works in different ways based on the perspective of the observer. When admired from the air, the white stripes resemble a column of walls. However, the white stripes appear at ground level as “bars” that hover above the ground.
The project is still being tested, as the town is observing the effects of the zebra crosswalk on people before duplicating the project in different areas of the village.
[Read: Iceland Has Horses That Will Respond To Work Emails on a Giant Keyboard While You’re on Vacation]
A village in Iceland has a creative 3D crosswalk that slows down traffic and promotes public safety.
The project took many weeks to be perfectioned, but now it is possible to admire it on the road.
A similar 3D crossing project inspired environmental commissioner Ralf Trylla in New Dehli, India.
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