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Russia is using holograms to protect disabled parking spots

You can't park here so stop asking.

 

Mike Wehner

Tech

Posted on May 8, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 9:22 pm CDT

Have you ever been tempted to leave your car in a disabled parking space, even though you’re perfectly ambulatory? You probably didn’t go through with it, but in Russia, drivers don’t seem to care all that much about the spaces specially designated for those who would most benefit from them. In fact, it’s become such a problem that a non-profit organization has taken a seriously sci-fi approach to combating it.

dislife.ru

According to the Russian organization Dislife, over 30% of drivers in the country regularly take disabled spots illegally. The bright paint on the ground just doesn’t seem to be striking enough to remind a huge chunk of Russia’s driving population to leave the spaces for those who need them, so Dislife decided to put disabled individuals in the spots, permanently.

Sensors mounted near disabled parking places in certain locations around Moscow can detect the presence of a state-issued disabled parking permit as an individual is sliding their car in. If no permit is detected, a hidden projector beams the movie, speaking image of an actual disabled person onto a fine layer of water mist, making them seem to pop out of nowhere. 

After springing to life, the hologram effectively shames the person for attempting to illegally park in a designated disabled space, and prompts them to find another place to leave their vehicle. As you can see in the video above, it’s definitely a dramatic and effective way to grab a driver’s attention, and it seems to serve its intended purpose splendidly. 

H/T Jalopnik | Screengrab via adsoftheworldvideos/YouTube

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*First Published: May 8, 2015, 12:33 pm CDT