Car that shouts "Safety First!"


Idea: There were nearly 6,420,000 in the United States in 2005. The financial cost of these crashes is more than 230 Billion dollars. 2.9 million people were injured and 42,636 people killed. About 115 people die every day in vehicle crashes in the United States -- one death every 13 minutes. The number of auto accidents have not decreased from year 2000 despite improvements in car technology, stricter law enforcement and enhanced infrastructure. Top reason for these accidents is falling asleep on the wheel due to tiredness, and close second being DUI(Driving Under Influence). What if we could mandate sensors in all cars, which automatically dial 911 when it detects drunken state of the driver? Taking a step forward, we could install facial expression recognition software, which upon detecting tiredness/sleepiness on the driver's face, could ask (or force) the driver to stop (and get fresh).

Rewards: Safer roads. I believe we could really get rid off this artificial cause (actually #1 cause of deaths in US) of human deaths.

Bonus: The intelligence system in the car can also be programmed to contact nearby cars to inform them about drunken state (or tired state) of the driver, alerting them to be careful.

2 comments:

Enakshi said...

Nice thought...made me start wondering...If I am sleepy and tired, and I still need to get home, then let the device on knowing that move on autopilot and drive me home.
Too large a leap of technology?
:)

Bhavesh said...

Maybe not that far fetched. Autopilot cars already exist. Checkout http://www.engadget.com/2005/08/27/gm-will-launch-self-driving-car-in-2008/
Of course, they haven't passed the traffic tests thoroughly yet.