[rarestblog]

I still think it was a brightly colored sign with a speed indicator that slowed the cars down, not the "lottery" part.

In Soviet Russia the Limit Camera Speeds You..

A few years ago there was an experiment in which similar camera (with speed reading) was installed on a inner circle of Moscow (called smth like "3rd transport circle"). The result? There was a huge increase in speed - people were actually COMPETING who can set a record! (Even worse - they were trying to catch a photo of the sign showing their extreme speeds). The camera was removed (as far as I know). Never seen any other cameras with actual speed indicator in Moscow ever since.

Actually there was another experiment that did work in Russia. On a highway a local group placed funeral wreaths (I'm not sure whether this is what they actually called in English) along the highway (there were no dead people, just wreaths). Net result? Everyone were driving within speed limit (which is almost unheard of in most of Russia). When pulled over drivers were asked about "why", the usual response was something like "well, it got me thinking that maybe it just isn't worth it to drive fast..."

[Deestan]

> There was a huge increase in speed - people were actually COMPETING who can set a record!

We had that when those cameras were introduced in Norway too. The cameras were then changed to not displaying speeds above the limit - it now just says "over 50!" if the limit is 50. Solved the speed competition problem.

[lsb]

Funeral wreaths on the side of the road as decoration commemorating nothing reminds me of Ghost Bikes. It's bicycles spray-painted white, chained up close to the scene of fatal bike accidents, with a descriptive placard. It started in NYC and is now worldwide, and passing one always causes me to be doubly cautious, often giving me the chills.

http://ghostbikes.org

[andyking]

I saw something similar in Scotland a couple of years ago - on a particularly dangerous bend, there was a car positioned as if it had run off the road, with a "police aware" sign next to it. When I passed by the same spot three weeks later, it was still there - turned out it was deliberately put there to catch people's attention and act as a warning.

[rmc]

> funeral wreaths (I'm not sure whether this is what they actually called in English)

Yes that's the right word.

It's not uncommon in Ireland for crosses or headstones to be placed on the roadside where people have died.

[pavel_lishin]

In Texas, it's common to see crosses commemorating someone's death in a vehicle. Anecdotal evidence, but it's never gotten me to slow down. I just think, "Hey look, someone drove drunk here."

[ciupicri]

We had the same problem in Bucharest, Romania.