Those photos are all taken on rainy foggy days and that is one shiny, uniformly reflective parking lot surface. I wonder if the yellow pole on those horizontal lines forms enough of an optical illusion that leads somewhat distracted drivers to wildly misjudge the distance their vehicle is from the pole.
Especially with another similarly sited pole someone else posted, in similar weather conditions. and it looks like the pole is REALLY close in width to the lines on the ground. Could be a cool phenomenon to look into.
Yup. If it keeps happening, maybe there's a design flaw. Remember, nobody's perfect all of the time so we need to design things to accommodate the mistakes people inevitably make.
It is good to design to account for stupidity, or in these cases design around known limitations (eyesight in poor conditions, visibility from a driver’s seat).
Is the rock or sign putting people in danger? I'd argue they account for stupidity by stopping the people who aren't paying attention and shouldn't be driving right now.
The dangerous driver is stopped on an inanimate object instead of causing an accident and no one is hurt.
Incidentally, but not at all coincidentally, this is precisely why Target stores always have those red concrete spheres in front of the doors. Which are typically nearly exactly the same height and thus have the same potential amount of visibility/invisibility below a driver's sightline as this rock. It's to prevent morons from crashing their vehicles through the doors.
The rock(s) pictured are not even in the parking lot like this Wal Mart pole. If you leave the road, it is reasonable to expect that you will encounter obstacles.
Not so much morons as targeted attacks. Same reason malls (remember malls?) have those great big planters placed randomly on the floors, to stop vehicles that made it past the bollards. Defensive architecture, its a fascinating and extremely depressing subdiscipline.
If it keeps happening, maybe there's a design flaw.
The 11'8" bridge taught me that it's always human stupidity. They have regular signs, flashing signs, sensors that automatically turn the light red if you're too tall, and other stuff. And yet we still have regular videos of trucks opening themselves like tin cans.
They actually raised that bridge -- or rather, lowered the underpass at what was surely great expense -- and even at its new taller height of 12'4" it's still not enough to help stupid people.
I wonder if the yellow pole on those horizontal lines forms enough of an optical....
No, it's Walmart.
I have lived close to several Walmarts, and each and every single one has smashed signs in the parking lot because the people who frequent Walmart are exactly the kinds of people who drive straight into solid objects.
Optical illusion or not, you shouldn’t be driving over the yellow hashes. Stop trying to cut the corner and you’d never be close enough to the pole to hit it.
It's a yellow pole placed among yellow lines painted on the ground. It's a terrible layout and design. There needs to be more contrast between the pole and the lines on the ground.