Building a Traffic Radar System To Catch Reckless Drivers? 483
cbraescu1 writes "I live in a city with a population in the millions (someplace in the Middle East; the country is not important), and I am mad as hell. The car traffic is going from bad to worse, and I'm sick of all the car accidents that keep happening (we have one of the biggest accident and mortality rates per km of road or per 1,000 vehicles). I just witnessed a car accident a few hours ago, and in the last few months I've given first aid at two other car accidents, all happening within 500 meters of each other. Today's victims escaped alive, but the motorcycle driver who was responsible fled and the police weren't equipped to catch him. There are laws, but not much willingness to enforce them, and no traffic lights at all. After speaking with some of my friends, we decided to take the issue into our own hands: build a traffic radar system able to capture a vehicle's speed, install it at our own expense, and share the generated penalties with the city government (all subject of their approval, of course). We want to start on the main avenue (more than 15 km) and to 'roll' the income from the penalties into covering new streets (so that perpetrators will basically finance the system). We're not rich and we will not ask for our money back. We just need to make the system start and we're confident the penalty fees will cover its spread. So, I'm asking Slashdot: what would be a workable way to build such a system? It must withstand drivers claiming the system is cheating, high temperatures, high levels of humidity, and crappy electricity. Any suggestions would be appreciated. This is about technology saving lives — literally."
Re:One additional improvement (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Um... shouldn't traffic lights come first? (Score:3, Funny)
I suggest you come over here for a couple of days.
There's plenty of pre-assembled cameras on our street corners, help yourself....
Re:Can't enforce what is ignored. (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, it will. I saw a movie like this once. I think it had Charles Bronson in it.
Re:the better alternative (Score:5, Funny)
I had no idea the Ethiopian government had sold the name of their capital [wikipedia.org] to the peddlers of sports shoes [adidas.com] and middle of the road music [wikipedia.org] or fish picklers [www.abba.se].
Re:Can't enforce what is ignored. (Score:3, Funny)
No, that was someone else.