Every Town Needs a Huge Cat Directing Traffic

It can be hard to get drivers to slow down on local streets. Some places install a roundabout. Others go with speed bumps. The town of Sebastopol, in Northern California, chose to install a 12-foot tall orange tabby that glows in the dark and instills the fear of death into your pedal-pushing soul.

Slow Down Cat, as it’s affectionately known, stands on an old Caltrans trailer that’s been painted lime green and fits into a single parking space. The sculpture, made from recycled material, moves around town from street to street, generally staying in one spot for three days, which is how long its solar charge can light it up at night. It holds a “SLOW” sign in one paw, lack of opposable thumbs notwithstanding, and extends the other outward as if to say: take it easy, friend, or I’ll use your trunk as a litter box.