Road Marker Marks You

If you could make a reflective road marker (a "road stud", in the jargon) that contained a small solar cell and battery, you would be able to: A) power a LED at night to provide lit lanes, not just reflection; B) monitor for fog or water on the road surface; C) monitor the temperature to detect ice; D) use infrared ranging and embedded cameras to detect and report the license number of anyone speeding on the road; E) All of the above. If the company can make them cheap enough, they'll be everywhere in a few years.

Comments

Oh shit

[Neil Blender]

Here come the "Soviet Russia" jokes.

Aqua-planing ?

[zedmelon]

A mere 5mm of water on the road surface can cause a vehicle travelling at 70mph to lose all grip

5mm? 70mph? What if I'm driving in a quarter inch of water at 115kph?

Re:Aqua-planing ?

[kfg]

What if I'm driving in a quarter inch of water at 115kph?

You work in the aerospace industry?

KFG

Re:Aqua-planing ?

[SuperBigGulp]

The important thing is to keep your mm*mph below 350. Just as 5 x 70 will cause you to lose control, driving on 1mm of water at 350 mph will also cause you to lose control. Similarly, driving 1 mph on 350 mm of water will also cause you to lose control.

Or F

[SheldonYoung]

F) Drive along with a truck and a shovel, collecting enough solar panels and batteries to power your house.

Re:"Road Marker"

[SRain315]

The theft of multiple road markers is therefore referred to as "compiling RPMs"

Re:Just make them cheap enough?

[the_mad_poster]

Perry county, central PA. Any given road that's not an Interstate will have any number of the following defects or problems:

1. Animals ranging in size from squirrels to bears will camp in the road with impunity. Beeping will not help. Creeping forward will not help. This is why gun racks for trucks were invented.
2. Drunken rednecks will stammer aimlessly up the side of the road between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. (the lags are due to the time it takes shift changing workers to get drunk and compensate for bar opening / closing times). This is the secondary reasoning behind gun racks for trucks.
3. Potholes. Potholes in most places mean "a hole in the road which causes temporary discomfort or, if serious enough, possible damage to the vehicle". In Perry County, it's a "dimple" in the road until it's large enough to swallow a CG-47 Ticonderoga vessel whole. Fortunately, any self-respecting denizen of Perry County owns at least two trucks twice the size of a Ticonderoga and loaded with five time the armaments.
4. Thirty degree turns. I wish I made that up.
5. A long, hard haul up one side and a drop off on the other that would make a roller coaster designer wet his pants. No hill in Perry County that has a road on it has any shape other than a perfect wedge. If you managed to run up one side fast enough, you could probably win the X-Prize with your truck after you ramp off the top.
6. One lane. Or less. If there is a lane.
7. Watch out for houses on the roadway. Literally.
8. Roads in Perry County were invented for large pieces of farm equipment to travel on in first gear only. This warning actaully applies to the interstates and major roadways as well.
9. No matter how many people die at the intersection, or how backed up the traffic gets, there is no red light. Perry County residents are stubbornly proud of the fact that there has never been a permanent red light in their county. Several attempts to put some in to save lives and manage the traffic flow have been brought forward. All of them got their shit seriously wrecked by rednecks in trucks with gun racks.