A. a new way of highway speed control B. a new pattern ……
Believe it or not, optical illusion can cut highway
crashes.
Japan is a case in point. It has reduced automobile
crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. But
stripes, called chevrons, painted on the roads make drivers think that they are
driving faster than they really are, and thus drivers slow down.
Now the American Automobile Association Foundation for Traffic Safety in
Washington D.C. is planning to repeat Japan’s success. Starting next year, the
foundation will paint chevrons and other patterns of stripes on selected roads
around the country to test how well the patterns reduce highway
crashes.
Excessive(too great) speed plays a major role in as
much as one fifth of all fatal traffic accidents, according to the foundation.
To help reduce those accidents, the foundation will conduct its tests in areas
where speed-related hazards (danger) are the greatest curves, exit slopes,
traffic circles, and bridges.
Some studies suggest that
straight, horizontal bars painted across roads can initially cut the average
speed of drivers in half. However, traffic often returns to full speed within
months as drivers become used to seeing the painted bars.
Chevrons, scientists say, not only give drivers the impression that they are
driving faster than they really are but also make a lane appear to be narrower.
The result is a longer lasting reduction in highway speed and the number of
traffic accidents.The passage mainly discusses ______.
A. a new way of highway speed control
B. a new pattern for painting highways
C. a new way of training drivers
D. a new type of optical illusion
