Do you see a pit in the road? Optical illusion leaves motorists baffled - here’s what happened

What is with this pit on the road ramp?
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A motorist was left baffled after it appeared like a pit had opened up on the road ahead of him.

The driver found himself having to pull over to the side of the road after his eyes decieved him by trippy optical illusion.

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You can watch the video at the top of this article and see for yourself!

Does it look like a pit to you?

What happens in the video?

The video comes from the funnyhoodvidz page on Instagram.

In the footage, a driver has pulled over to the side of the road just in front of an on-ramp in America.

He films the scene ahead of him, where it looks like a pit has opened up in the road.

He explains: “I just went onto this on ramp and there are no signs blocking it off - that’s just a pit on the on-ramp.”

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The driver turns on his warning light in the video before another car shows up.

This vehicle approaches the on-ramp and then seems to hesitate after noticing the “pit” before tentatively passing it.

Baffling optical illusion makes it look like a pit has opened in the roadBaffling optical illusion makes it look like a pit has opened in the road
Baffling optical illusion makes it look like a pit has opened in the road

What actually was the pit?

In the end, the driver filming the video eventually starts to move forward towards the pit and discovers that it was actually a puddle all along.

The way the water was reflecting the roof of the on-ramp was making it appear as if a hole had opened up in the road.

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After passing the puddle, the driver says: “It looks like a pit... it’s water!”

How do optical illusions work?

Optical illusions can happen when in many cases.

From puddles in the road appearing to be pits to brown spheres looking extremely colourful.

But what causes optical illusions and how do they work?

Cedric van den Berg from The University of Queensland - Queensland Brain Institute - pulled back the curtain to explain what goes on.

He said: “Optical illusions happen when our brain and eyes try to speak to each other in simple language but the interpretation gets a bit mixed-up.

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“For example, it thinks our eyes told it something is moving but that’s not what the eyes meant to say to the brain.

“Our brains and eyes evolved to be quite sensitive about movement because in pre-historic times it was a big help if you could spot movement early and often.

“A slight rustle in the bushes could mean a predator was nearby and it was time to run away. Spotting movement early could save your life.”

But how and why do optical illusions occur?

Mr van den Berg explained: “A lot of scientists have worked very hard for many years trying to understand how optical illusions work. But the truth is, in many cases, we still don’t know for sure exactly how our brain and eyes work together to create these illusions.

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“We know that information that our eyes gather goes on a long, complicated journey as it travels to the brain. Some of the confusion happens early in that journey.

“Other optical illusions can only be explained by really complicated processes way down the line in that journey.

“In general, the further down the line these “confusions” occur, the less scientists tend to know about exactly how they happen.”

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