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Dangerous Driving Detectors

Every 5th or so road reflector dot has a proximity detector and transmitter
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These could be used to detect a car's speed and if they were swerving back and forth in their lane. Dot 3278 senses the car was 3 feet away from it, dot 3279 senses 1.5 feet, dot 3281 senses 5 feet etc. The car's also going 15 mph faster the prevailing current speed.

Have a series of about 10 or so of these in each lane in groups spaced 2 to 3 miles apart on high traffic highways.

Tailgating, agressive driving, weaving in and out of traffic etc could also be detected by computer and a dispatch sent to the Highway Patrol.

doctorremulac3, Mar 09 2011

These might generate some false alarms... Escalating_20Turn_20Signals
[normzone, Mar 09 2011]

The signals from this device would probably confuse the system... Range_2fSpeed-Diffe...de_20View_20Mirrors
[normzone, Mar 09 2011]

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       This would result in the law enforcement folks receiving thousands of dispatches per minute - there will need to be a lot of bandwidth.
normzone, Mar 09 2011
  

       You could quantize how far off the norm cars would have to be driving to get a dispatch. It wouldn't send a warning out every time a car swerved a little bit, only if it was all over the road.   

       Calibrate it so you only get wildly all over the place drivers, not the occasional deviation.
doctorremulac3, Mar 09 2011
  

       Did you make up "the way of the free" norm?   

       Poetic. Think I'll start calling it that.   

       America, where even the ways are free.
doctorremulac3, Mar 09 2011
  

       Yes, I can take credit for that one, but I'll license it's use to you for minimal royalties :-)   

       Here, all the cars are all over the road.
normzone, Mar 09 2011
  

       Reading that idea gives me an idea.   

       With these little robo-bumps you could have the cars read the signals too and put the info on a heads up display for merging, tailgating warnings and yes, even swerving.   

       Get that Kip the talking car thing going.   

       "Sensors indicate you're swearving, speeding and are most likeley really drunk."   

       (Insert vintage, plaid jacketed bad comedian joke here) --> It's like having a robotic mother in law.
doctorremulac3, Mar 09 2011
  

       <mother in law voice> sp: kit, the car <milv>
po, Mar 10 2011
  

       A step in the right direction (+)   

       In the UK, there is a perception among the road safety groups and government that safety is inversely proportional to speed and speed is everything. This has resulted in the proliferation of automated speed traps which has co-incided with a reduction in conventional road policing. The result is that some of the most dangerous situations I encounter go unreported and the drivers are allowed to continue driving.   

       While this idea may be able to detect some kinds of trouble, it wouldn't detect the myopic moron who bimbles gently onto the dual carriageway and drives at 30mph in 70mph traffic, oblivious to the chaos thus caused. While the driver may be within the speed limit and driving straight, they may be doing so into the path of a 44 ton artic.
Twizz, Mar 10 2011
  

       uh, no- this would happen every time I was using my cellphone or clipping my fingernails, or taking my blood sugar whilst driving!
xandram, Mar 10 2011
  

       Well, you make a pretty good sales point for this idea xan, probably not a good idea to be doing any of those things while driving.
doctorremulac3, Mar 10 2011
  

       A friend of mine will sometimes drive with the right wheels of their motorhome on the rumble strip on the edge of that lane if his wife really annoys him while on a trip together. For a hundred miles. Would he be detected?
cudgel, Mar 11 2011
  

       Hmm. I'd think not. I'd just program the thing to detect a) people using the freeways as a racetrack, weaving in and out of traffic at high speed and b) drunks slowly weaving back and forth. I don't think people using the rumble strip to piss their wives off is enough of a menace to society to bother with. Let her handle it.   

       Your friend sounds like a fun guy to travel with.
doctorremulac3, Mar 11 2011
  

       Your idea could work, but existing highway traffic cams can do the same job a little cheaper.
bob, Mar 12 2011
  

       I had actually though of that but you'd have a hard time singling out cars in groups, behind other cars or trucks etc. Plus this would work in foggy or rainy conditions where cameras might have a problem.
doctorremulac3, Mar 12 2011
  
      
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