All of us as participants in traffic, and especially as car drivers, as soon as we see a police vehicle by the road, we automatically brake and reduce the speed, and this is almost something like a conditioned reflex. This fact was used by a clever resident of a small mountain Swedish village, near a well-known ski resort.
In the small village of Överbyn north of Torsby, many car drivers suddenly slow down when they pass Ulf Tjelum‘s house. He lives right next to the busy E45 and has found his own way to get “speeders” to slow down.
At this time of year, many car drivers pass through Överbyn on their way to the mountain holiday. But for Ulf and Randi Tjelum, the heavy traffic means great difficulties. The vast majority of drivers who pass by Ulf’s estate drive too fast, hurrying to get on their skis as soon as possible.
This is a big problem for Ulf and his guests, because due to the large traffic, it is almost impossible to get involved in the traffic from his yard. Sometimes they can not even make a left turn out of the entrance but have to go right and try to turn at Hovfjället, Ulf Tjelum told SVT reporters. In situations where the traffic is huge, they have to wait a long time when they are going to ride out. Sometimes “he has had time to fall asleep before they cross the road”, said Ulf’s wife with a smile.
How we got rid of speeding
The couple considered several options to get drivers to slow down, but in the end it became the “Police car”. Since of course they can’t “rent” a police car to stand in front of their house, Ulf came up with the idea to paint their Saab 9-5 Wagon, which was the usual police car in Sweden, which everyone recognizes, in police colors.
– It only took an hour to repaint the car. On the other hand, it was difficult to find the right lime green color, says Ulf Tjelum and points to his “police car” which he has placed right by the roadside of the E45. Instead of the usual sign on the side of Swedish police cars – “Polis“, Ulf wrote “Potis” – so that from a distance, this “Potis” looks like “Polis”. He did this about four years ago, and as he says, “mimicry” gave good results.
As we stated at the beginning, as soon as they saw something resembling a police car from afar by the road, drivers who drive too fast at that moment brake.
As you can see, Ulf’s solution is very simple, and is already used in some countries around the world, with the image of a police car on a billboard instead of a real car.
This will at least affect those who see this situation for the first time, but unfortunately, when they get used to this scene by the road, they react poorly in the following passes.
