children

[Thanks to Anne McIntyre for bringing this idea to my attention...]

We've all seen those "Slow down, family neighborhood!" signs and wondered if they had any effect. Traffic engineers would probably say signs have NO impact at all and the only way to "calm" traffic is to modify the roads, but the Town of Needham is trying something different.

Signs designed by kids, described as "emotionally intelligent" because they invoke more of an empathetic reaction than negative, impersonal commands, may help to subconsciously remind speeders of WHY they should slow down. Needham has deployed a number of these signs which are inexpensive to create and wildly popular with residents.

They are definitely a better idea than this article I found about residents putting out life-size cardboard children near the road to scare cars.