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. Bent strips, 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 Foundations 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  speed plays a major role in as much as one fifty 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  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 of highway speed and the number of traffic accidents. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former  _  .
can keep drivers awake can cut road accidents in half will look more attractive will have a longer effect on drivers