Words painted on the road look stretched out and oddly tall, and a two-word message seems to be written back to front as you drive over it. Are both of those deliberate?

Correct answer: C. Yes — letters are elongated because you view the pavement at a low angle, and the first word is placed nearest to you so it reads in order as you approach

Both are. Book 11 explains the stretching first: "due to the low angle at which word and symbol markings are viewed, they must be elongated in the direction of traffic movement to be legible." From a driver's eye height the pavement is seen almost edge-on, so letters of normal proportions would be squashed to nothing — elongating them makes them read correctly from the seat, which is why they look wrong when you stand next to them. The ordering follows the same logic: "a multi-line message should be placed so that the first word is nearest to the approaching driver." You meet the words in reading order as you drive at them, which means the message appears upside-down to anyone looking from a footbridge. Book 11 also keeps them short — "no more than three words" — and requires white retroreflective material.

Source: MTO Driver's Handbook: Ontario Traffic Manual, Book 11 — Pavement, Hazard and Delineation Markings (March 2000), Section 3.12 — Words and Symbols, word messages