3. A。推断题。根据文章第2段第1句和第3段第1句可推知此题答案为 A。
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Believe it or not, optical illusion(错觉) 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. But stripes, called chevrons(人字形), 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
Foundation(基金会) 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 (too great) speed plays a major
role in as much as one fifth 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 (danger) 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 in highway speed and the number of traffic accidents.