‘3D crosswalk’ is 4th graders’ idea to slow down cars

Pedestrian safety has emerged as a huge issue in the United States, with pedestrian fatalities at nearly the

highest levels in more than two decades

in 2017, the most recent year for which data are available. Experts say that’s thanks in part to the

prevalence of SUVs

and their higher, more blunt front ends, and probably increased distraction from smartphones and in-car touchscreens.

In suburban Boston, two 10-year-olds decided to do something about it. Isa and Eric (their last names were not given) spent months researching ways to get drivers to slow down near Brooks Elementary School in Medford, Mass., after Eric’s brother was nearly struck by a car. Their solution was to paint a

trompe-l’oeil

image of traditional crosswalk hash marks rendered as three-dimensional blocks to fool drivers.

“When you’re walking across, you can tell that it’s painted,” Isa

told CBS affiliate WBZ-TV

. “But what we hope is when you’re driving down, you’ll see it as 3-D — three dimensional. So it looks real.”

The design technique has been used for years by

advertisers

at soccer venues to make the logos they paint in the grass beside the goals pitches pop visually for TV cameras, and it’s been used for crosswalks in other countries such as China and Great Britain. Here’s an

incredible example

from Iceland in which the stripes appear to be rectangular blocks floating above the road surface, courtesy of some creative “shadows.”

Isa and Eric, who participate in the city’s

Center for Citizenship and Social Responsibility

, reportedly lobbied local officials for a year before they got the OK. The city plans to install similar 3D crosswalks at three other elementary schools by summer.