h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My nearest bus stop is situated right next to a school, with only a fence (mid-high) separating the bus stop from the school yard. The school itself is situated almost at the end of a looooong downhill road. The road leads nowhere but turns back on itself in a loop.

This morning, I was mystified to see several pupils standing in line along the pavement leading uphill, spaced about 5 metres apart, halfway up the hill. They were all wearing yellow reflective vests.

Here's what happened once I finally realized what was going on. There was a diode in each of those vests that would lit up on certain conditions.

Keep the speed limit exactly - nothing (speed limit outside schools is usually 30 km/h or 18.6 mph).

Drive beneath speed limit (a bus has a rather long way to go uphill before it reaches full speed, which is why I got to see it) the diodes would lit up green and the driver of the vehicle got and wavings from the kids.

Drive faster than the speed limit and the diodes turned red.

I saw two parents who had just dropped off their kids being in too big a hurry to leave, and got red diodes all the way up the hill.

Time and time again, police controls have confirmed that the worst culprits of not sticking to the speed limits outside schools are parents.

So you're a parent, and you're in a hurry to drop your kid off in time for school.

And you think that makes you excempt from having to stick with speed limits?

The sad thing is that I don't those parents even noticed the red diodes lighting up along their way up the hill.

They should give each kid a bucket of mud and if the drivers are caught on their cell phones, talking or texting, SPLAT!

Fancy you should mention the use of cell phones, BG.

From thelocal.se ;

'Amendments to Swedish law were put into effect on Sunday, stating that motorists' mobile phone usage is to be more closely monitored by police. Up until the weekend, Swedes could freely text or speak on their phone without using handsfree, while driving a vehicle.

While drivers can still communicate on their phones, they are no longer permitted to use them or their GPS in any manner that could be deemed "detrimental" to their driving.'

Already on Monday afternoon (yesterday) a car driver was stopped because of 'driving in an unsafe manner' (not sure how to translate it). Anyway, what it boils down to is that the driver didn't give the traffic his/her full attention because of being too busy with their smart phone. Obviously oblivious enough to catch the eye of the police.

Near the previous location of our office, there was a round-about with traffic lights, both for cars and pedestrians. You've no idea how many times I saw car drivers talking on their mobiles while trying to navigate the round-about while keeping an eye on the car in front of them, completely oblivious to the fact that the traffic lights had switched to red.

As a pedestrian, I had to make sure the closest car driver had noticed the red light before I crossed the street, even though *I had green light.

Amazingly many car drivers *think they can do several things simultaneously (including a female colleague of mine who really used to pride herself). When I told her that she was deluded, she vehemently denied it, until I mailed a link to an online test to her.

After taking the test, she meekly confessed that she really wasn't as good as she thought.

Unfortunately, this was a couple of years ago, so I no longer have the link, otherwise I'd share it.

I imagine a future where cars are fitted with a small device that connects to the car speaker system. These would transpond with speed limit signs and eventually with other traffic signs. Go over the speed limit and the car makes unpleasant noises that increase in volume according to how much you are speeding.

What a good idea to use children for that, it puts speeding and children into the driver's mind at the same time.

I also like Lil's idea about nasty noises with speed. Although people would no doubt find a way to disrupt that eventually.

Deb

In Portugal there are gantries over the roads which clock you passing under. This is for the toll charges, and when you pass under, you hear a "bleep" from the dashboard to confirm that you have been registered. This could surely be adapted to produce those unpleasant noises to warn you that you're doing something you shouldn't.

However, with the driverless cars coming in on the horizon, and sentient road surfaces, this may soon no longer be a problem we have to worry about.

In the meantime, however, this sort of thing would have to be standardised at an international level, so that no exceptions would be made for foreigners. A pedestrian who has been knocked down will still be injured or worse, regardless of the nationality of the person driving the car.