Believe it or not, optical illusion (视觉错觉)can cut highway crashes. Japan is a case i

n point. It has reduced automobile crashes on some roads by nearly 75 percent using a simple optical illusion. Bent 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 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 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 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.

11. The passage mainly discusses __________.

A. a new way of highway speed control

B. a new pattern for painting highways

C. a new approach to training drivers

D. a new type of optical illusion

12. On roads painted with chevrons, drivers tend to feel that __________.

A. they should avoid speed-related hazards

B. they are driving in the wrong lane

C. they should slow down their speed

D. they are approaching the speed limit

13. The advantage of chevrons over straight, horizontal bars is that the former ___________.

A. can keep drivers awake