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).
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.
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.
So this wouldn't be a problem for me around a normal pole, but now that I have seen this famous one... do NOT let me drive here. I fear my intrusive thoughts.
It's probably time to move or redesign your pole if people have run into it that many times. It's a pole in the middle of a parking lot. If people are hitting it then it's not visible enough. Repaint it blaze orange.