By placing sculptures along roadsides, scientists have discovered that they can distract drivers enough to slow down, which may lead to safer and more pleasant communities.

Researchers placed brightly colored works of art near two German communities and then measured the effect these had on drivers.

Speeding drivers drove more slowly, they found, observing traffic activity in Amelinghausen and Ottersberg, in northern Germany.

The works of art encouraged motorists to think. As a result, they attracted drivers' attention but did not threaten road safety, the scientists say, based on an assessment of resident surveys, traffic measurements and recording drivers' eye movements.

After the first sculptures were installed in Ottersberg, the number of speeding violations – faster than 50 kph (31 mph) – decreased by up to 24%.

"It had an effect, but art alone doesn't change everything," says Rainer Höger, a professor of industrial psychology specializing in mobility at Germany's University Lüneburg.

He now calls for erecting sculptures with further infrastructural measures to calm traffic.

"As a major result of the project, it was found that artistic installations at the roadside can lower inner-city speed levels substantially in some cases, but the exact extent depends on inner-city characteristics," says the team from Ottersberg University of Applied Sciences, TU Hamburg and the Leuphana University of Lüneburg.

Drivers did not slow down right away after passing the first sculptures. Given that, the scientists recommend placing artworks at the approach of some towns or near the entrance signs to benefit from the slowing effect.

But that could be tricky in some places if traffic regulations ban the placing of objects directly on roadsides outside built-up areas.

"It would be worth considering whether the rigid legal requirements could be relaxed, perhaps with an exemption, to initiate a speed reduction in the approach to a town using appropriate art installations," the researchers suggest.

Art installations only change part of the local atmosphere, the experiment concludes. To permanently slow down speeding drivers, further changes are needed to the townscape, alongside speed limits.