Swedish Traffic Control
A couple of years ago our son Richard and his wife moved to Sweden to go to graduate school for a while. Way let onto way and now they own a house, have a daughter and are headed toward citizenship. Sweden is a very civilized country and looks very much like Muskoka to my eyes.
One aspect of the civilization is their attitude toward the people/car interface. I like their decision, people come first. One result of that approach is that people walk and ride their bicycles more than here and so are not nearly as fat as here. In fact I was the fattest guy I saw in Sweden on my trips there. (it makes me think).
Anyway, the photo is of a planter box, 
one of a pair that are on the roads in most residential neighbourhoods throughout the summer months. The planters are staggered a little more than a car length apart thereby forcing cars, truck etc to slow down to steer around the boxes. Some people plant nice flowers and paint the boxes, others just leave them alone. Either way, the city lifts the boxes into place in the spring and removes them once the weather turns winter. This is better than a speed bump because they don’t get in the way of snow ploughing yet achieve the same result in the busy pedestrian times of the year.
I would like to see this system used in our neighbourhood. There are lots and cars and plenty of children and accidents just waiting to happen.
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