I dunno... I'm with SpecMaster on this one. Painting that barrier wall grey, especially in today's batshit crazy world of constant stress, electronic leashes and jobs where they expect you to keep in touch and actually complete tasks while driving... It's like deliberately placing a booby-trap on the side of a busy highway. Sooner or later some booby is going to come along and get caught in it; the busier the highway, the sooner and more often.
Look at the scene from this smaller perspective; at first glance, it looks like just a shoulder on the highway. We paint curbs on divided highways yellow for the same reason; I see this as being no different.
If too many distracted drivers hit it like that guy, the owner could be sued for creating a public safety hazard. People are going to hit that camouflaged wall, and no matter whose fault each individual accident is, that retaining wall is going to get smashed until it caves in.
Bottom line is it was a fuckwit stupid poor choice of color, but it won't be especially expensive to fix. Much less expensive than rebuilding the retaining wall.
mnem
*ignorant asshole*
Mnem, no disrespect but that one of the dumbest arguments I've ever heard to justify distracted driving. Are you the guys lawyer?
It's pretty simple to me. See the double yellow line? Yep. See the edge white line? Yep. Drive in between them and you'll have no problem. Wander outside of them and you'll hit something, regardless of what color it's painted.
I'm not justifying.
But the reality is that the world is full of dumbasses. They outnumber non-dumbasses easily 10:1, so like it or don't they get their way. (See supply-side economics, Resident Chump, Brexit, etc) And like it or not, they're allowed to drive too. I'm all for dumbasses winning the Darwin award in general, but this particular case really is on the wrong side of the line. EVERY DAMNED ONE OF US takes our turn being the dumbass at some time or another... every damned one of us has been distracted at the wheel at some time.
That retaining wall is literally camouflaged; your pic shows that plain as day. It IS an accident waiting to happen. AND it will happen, over and over again.
Arguing whose fault it is... what the eff difference does that make to the wall as it cracks and crumbles and the house slides down a hilll? Or to the passenger who may die needlessly? Whose fault is it? Those who were smart enough to see the accident-waiting-to-happen, and still did nothing to prevent it, that's who.
And NO... the white line does NOT mean "you're going to hit something". It means "This is where the highway ends, the other side of this is either a shoulder, or something less driveable." It is NOT a "warning" it is a "guide line". There are parts of the country where the shoulders of the roads are specifically used as an extra lane for rush hour traffic.
mnem
*3D-ed out*