E-Paper
Can 3D pedestrian crossing at BMCC trick drivers into slowing down?
A 3D pedestrian crossing has been painted in the city in front of the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), on an experimental basis
A 3D pedestrian crossing, an optical illusion, which has a hologram effect, has been painted in the city in front of the Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce (BMCC), on an experimental basis.
The aim is to make drivers slow down so pedestrians can cross the road.
It took five hours for workers of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to paint the 3D “zebra” crossing on Friday.
The Pune traffic police had proposed the idea of creating a 3D crossing design to the Centre for development studies and activities (CDSA), whereupon Siddharth Benninger, an urban planner, worked on the design and research.
“We started working on the design in May 2019, but it took longer to implement due to the extended rains,” said Siddharth, who has also researched walkability.
For the past few years, such crossings have been used in European countries, while the Delhi civic body has adopted this concept since 2016, to reduce the speed of vehicles approaching traffic junctions.
Students from BMCC were surprised to see this design. Shristi Sharda, a student residing at the BMCC college hostel said, “It is the first time I have seen this kind of design. I am not sure if the vehicles will slow down enough for people to cross, but today is just the first day.”
Aishwariya Madne, a BMCC Class 12 student, said, “Usually we do not cross the road here, as four-wheeler vehicles do not stop, but perhaps now with this 3D crossing, they might slow down.”
Avinash Joshi, a resident of Bhandarkar road, thinks that this 3D paint job is just a gimmick. “It might work for a first-time vehicle user, but if you are often going to drive or ride on this road, you will think of this 3D design as just a drawing on the road. I doubt if this will work. Here we simply don’t have any rules for pedestrian safety.”
