A random idea I thought up of

[giza]

I wonder how feasible/expensive it would be to place transmitters on speed limit signs on roads. These transmitters (solar powered as to not require an electrical feed) would broadcast the current speed limit on a specific frequency, which could then be picked up by the GPS units of passing cars. Obviously, the GPS units would have to listen on an additional frequency to retrieve the speed limit.

Additionally, if the car is speeding, the GPS unit could then warn the drivers that they are exceeding the speed limit. If one wanted to be really nasty, the GPS unit could start flashing warnings like, "At this speed, your chances of being in a fatal car wreck are three times higher than normal".

It'd be interesting to see how something like that turns out. Would drivers start doing the speed limit or would they ignore it? Would law enforcement support it (saving lives) or be against it (cuts into their revenue from speeding tickets).

It's nothing that I really have the resources to implement, but just felt it was a neat idea worth sharing.

Comments

[tailen.livejournal.com]

Actually that already exists. My parents had to turn it off on their car's GPS because it was frickin' annoying. The female voice kept saying, "You're speeding. You're driving too fast. You should slow down."

The GPS roadmaps already have speed limits on them, they need it to be able to calculate the fastest route and stuff like that, and most modern GPS units calculate how fast you're going.

[giza.livejournal.com]

Okay then. This calls for a change in strategy.

I want to hack a GPS so that once you break the speed limit, a maniacal voice begins to shout, "Go faster! The speed record on this road is only 95 Mph! You can beat that!"

[tailen.livejournal.com]

"The lady with the stroller hasn't seen you yet. C'mon, 10 points!"

[giza.livejournal.com]

Oh come on, don't be stingy. She's worth at least 100 in Carmageddon!

[darthgeek.livejournal.com]

Some rental car companies already do this, and will charge you extra if you exceed a certain speed limit.

I've also heard tell of some cities using the electronic toll tags to issue tickets by calculating the time it took to make it between your entrance and exit points.

[doco.livejournal.com]

That was on the motorways in the Netherlands.

[simbab.livejournal.com]

IIRC they did something similar with radar detectors years ago, that never really caught on. People whom this would help already complain about "nanny" cars and would probably turn it off if they had a choice.

Around here, the petty suburban cops who police the Outerbelt would probably not like such a device. Central Ohio was the home of New Rome (http://wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Rome,_Ohio), after all.

[furahi.livejournal.com]

I see it's been already been covered, but my GPS does warn me when I speed. It allows me to go 5 over though :)

GPS car navigators need to know speed limits to calculate the fastest (vs shortest) route

[pyesetz]

I believe there were some studies showing that most people drive at a reasonable speed, regardless of what number is displayed on a speed-limit sign (changing the signs did not change drivers' average speeds). Official speed limits are set lower than the actual reasonable speed for a variety of reasons, most of which involve a poor understanding of human nature and/or a desire to dick people over.

A better approach would be completely internal to the car. It should warn you that you are going "too fast for conditions", based on ABS slip, the severity of the turns you've been making, frequent high-speed lane-changes, presence of many objects on radar, etc.

[puctiger.livejournal.com]

This is opening up a bad can of worms, like the kind with the cameras at intersections that dish out thousands of dollars in fines a day. I pay enough in taxes, thank you :)

[zorinlynx.livejournal.com]

Speed limits are set way too low on most roads. Really, 30MPH on a four lane road with few side streets is too low. As is 65 on a highway where you can easily do 90 safely if conditions are dry and traffic is sparse.

Speed limits should vary based on conditions. Rainy day? 60. Dry road, sparse traffic? 90. I think people would respect speed limits if they weren't so artificially low. Folks tend to disregard laws more when they're aimed at the "lowest common denominator".

Afterall, speed doesn't kill; hitting things does.

-Z

[linnaeus.livejournal.com]

On the road going out of Mitchell Airport on to the Interstate South of Milwaukee, there's a radar activated sign over the roadway, which if you exceed a certain speed, lights up in enormous letters overhead:

TOO FAST FOR CURVE

Which, if it's at night, and you're not expecting the Giant Glowing Letters of Warning with corresponding Flashing Yellow Lights of Warning to appear directly in front of you out of the blackness, can be a bit of a surprise.

[mwalimu.livejournal.com]

Any law enforcement officer who has to see the consequences of people breaking traffic laws, meaning accidents and such, would rather see more people obeying the law. Most measures that would help people obey the law aren't likely to put a dent in revenue from citations - human nature being what it is, there aren't likely to be that many more people driving slower, and there's enough violators out there now the cops could nab that a modest reduction won't really make it any more difficult for police to find violators. Someone once asked a cop about the ways cops can cheat to issue citations. He responded that while there are many ways a cop can cheat, and a few do, most would never consider it because it's way too easy to catch people without cheating.

[sagejackal.livejournal.com]

This would raise a huge red flag for privacy advocates such as myself.

If they can abuse a system like this for other means, they will abuse said system. Who's to say they aren't logging anything? Or what they're doing with that information?

And on a side note, this is already what they're doing in large portions of the NAFTA Superhighway. Though, it's not just speed limit signs, it's in the road itself. And the GPS boxes are becoming mandatory. And they admit they're tracking and logging movement.

"When free movement is outlawed,
only outlaws will move freely."

Don't mind me, I've been drinking...

[jlick.livejournal.com]

Every cabbie in Taiwan has one of these gizmos. They only seem to really pay attention to the 'there is a speed enforcement camera ahead' warnings though.

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

it's popular on a lot of cars in japan. for extra creepyness, it's a little girl's voice, in english, who will say "daddy! slow down! Daddy! You're going too fast!"

*shudder*