Thread: New Concept...What Do You Think?

Originally Posted by AllThingsEnd

this goes along with an idea that i had a while ago driving. i get really ****ed off at the stupid people that drive around here and the horn isnt a decent enough representation for that hatred. i was going to install a megaphone type thing that would sound off gunshots at the other driver. now that will get them moving alot faster than a weak *** honk

You can run a CB/PA to your horn. That is fun and it sounds cool too.

[RANT ON]
I live in Grand Rapids, MI and have to totally agree with RedDeath30 about how much it sucks driving here. Before here I lived in upstate NY and used to absolutely love driving. I would frequently drive and just get lost for the fun of it. I used to take trips to VT just for ice cream, and MA to see the castles and New England architecture more than once a week. I loved it.

Here, I dread even going to the grocery store. My life is *literally* put in danger every single day just trying to get to work which is 7 miles away, but takes as long as 40 minutes to get there. The people here have absolutely no idea how to drive. Nevermind something as complicated as a 4 way stop! And this is when they are sober! Imagine them drunk or stoned, which is another thing this state is famous for. You get tired of using the horn, because these people just won't learn. They are usually not doing what they are doing on accident. It's kind of hard to fight it when you are pretty much the only one driving properly. Nobody else sees a problem with it, including the cops most of the time. It really is amazing. It might be telling that when I took driver's training here, nearly everybody slept through the classes, crashed into the cones- but not one person was failed! The teacher would go through the tests and just give out the answers. It is so sad. No wonder insurance and traffic deaths are so high in this state.

Even the people that gripe about it here, almost always admit to doing those things themselves. It just ****es them off when other people do it to them. The most popular thing here is pulling into a left turn lane to merge with traffic. Results in several head on collisions nearly every single day, but people still keep doing it.

You would be hard pressed not to find a car with dents all over it here. Many of the cars here look totalled and not even road worthy. There is a reason for that. If you see one that doesn't, the person is either rich enough to keep fixing it, the car is brand new, or you actually have a responsible driver that is still waiting to get thiers coming to 'em from the rest of the morons.

So yeah, it is hard not to *hate* the drivers here, even if they are normally decent people off the road. (I've even justified playfully in my mind that since they are putting my life in danger, shooting them would be in self defense! lol)
[/RANT OFF]

Having said all of the above. I agree with what everyone else is saying. I had thought of the idea of a scrolling sign myself, and absolutely love the idea. However, at least here, it will more than likely just bring unwanted negative attention. As I said, people are not doing what they are doing by mistake and they are not going to stop because you express your displeasure. Ignorance and arrogance make a very dangerous combination, and it is overly apparent here.

I think ostracising people is the most effective method of getting people to self regulate themselves. Making new laws here only means people watch more closely for the police (and believe me, people here are famous for stomping on thier brakes when they see a cop car -even when they are not speeding, nearly causing an accident...real subtle!) Anyway, take the example of the repair shop owner that had so many problems with people not paying thier bill that he started posting thier names on his signboard. It got people to pay up very quickly.

In that vein (sp?), I had wanted to deck my car out with cameras to record my experiences every day on the way to work, etc.. Then post the interesting tidbits on public TV and advertise it. There would be no effort to hide license plates unless that is illegal (probably is.) If it is, at least the friends/family of those people will likely recognize them without the plates and hopefully tease them. It is probably the closest thing I can think of to get people to behave a little better on these streets. If it were sucessful and enough people were sick of it enough to get into the system, it would work wonders. I even had a name for the system (probably not original)...iWitness.

I am actually planning to set my car computer up to do this on trial runs as a background task. I will need to make custom software and hardware to do it though. Good thing I am a (somewhat good) programmer and electrical engineer!

One thing I would like to do is include some of my dash data and GPS info in the video frames (to avoid the argument that my driving was probably just as bad.) A seperate X minute loop could also come in handy in the case of an accident, to prove what really happened. I actually work on Flight Data Recorders - black boxes- for a living, so I am very familiar with this type of tech.

Curious if anyone else likes the idea of this system? I will make a seperate thread (homebrew hardware?) since I didn't intend to hijack this thread.


Scott McDonnell

Originally Posted by AllThingsEnd

yea, but then theres always those law things. and the mess is just a pain to clean up.

I imagine you are responding to my justifying shooting them in self defense?
Yeah, I know, which is why I restrain myself. Plus, violence is rarely ever the answer. Nevermind the expense of all the bullets around here! LOL!

Anyway, the argument is technically sound, but would not never actually work.

Scott McDonnell