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IBM to Help UAE Track Drivers on the Road
Mr.Bananas writes "InformationWeek reports that IBM has announced a deal with United Arab Emirates in which it would provide speed tracking devices that will automatically warn violators of traffic laws: "The telematics device will use multiple microprocessors based on IBM's Power Architecture, and will have the capability to monitor the speed of the vehicle and send out a warning if the car surpasses the posted speed limit." GeekCoffee goes on to report that tickets will be issued automatically to violators who ignore the warnings: "If the voice warning is ignored, the system would use a GSM/GPRS link to beam the car's speed, identity and location to the police so that a ticket could be issued.""
I am from the UAE. This (if true) is not a method to get cash and the government is definately not strapped for cash. We have some crazy drivers here.. and if this prove a successful way to control those idiots, then I can put up with such a system..
I'm sorry, but I need to respond to this.
Bringing up the police always seems to generate these "cops are all lazy, greedy, donut-eating, keeping-the-little-guy-down, tools-of-the-fascist-oppressors" posts.
As a slashdotter with a background in law enforcement, I'll let you in on a little secret: with the exception of the highway patrol guys, most municipal/county cops HATE doing traffic. It's boring, repetitive, and most cops would much rather be doing something/anything else.
Most police officers do NOT look on themselves as good little revenue-generators for their respective cities/mayors... the relationship is usually far, far more fractious and antagonistic than that. Besides, the individual cops don't get a cut of those tickets. There is little incentive to bust your butt, deal with the nasty attitudes of the people you stop, generate irate letters-to-the-editor in your local paper, all while doing something that you hate anyway. With the exception of a few small-town speedtraps (that have given other cops a black eye), most cops have better things to do than sit on their ass and write tickets all day.
That said, a good knowledge of the traffic laws can serve you well. If you see someone acting suspiciously, their breaking of a traffic law gives you probable cause to stop them. Then, while writing their ticket, you look through the back window and see a gun and ski mask laying on the floor in the back seat (or you see the occupants madly stashing contraband as you execute your vehicle approach)
BTW, the assured-clear-distance tickets, reckless operation citations, etc are finable offenses, so the "no revenue" accusation doesn't wash. Fact is, fewer of those offenses are ticketed because people take great pains not to commit them in front of police. You would not believe the difference in driver behavior, simply by comparing what you observe while driving your POV to what you observe while driving a marked cruiser.
There's a reason the expression "driving like you've got a cop behind you" exists.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Heh. Speed limits don't do what you think. The safest way to pick a speed limit is to monitor the road without speed limits, and set the limit at the speed which 80% of the drivers naturally drive under. This is accepted fact across the nation. Guess how many speed limits are created this way? Almost none. Why? VERY BAD FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT REVENUE.
This is a popular myth. I keep a link to my local city's budget just for this purpose. What you'll find is that ticket revenue doesn't even cover the expense of trafic enforcement, much less generate "revenue" for the rest of the city. Fact is, traffic enforcement is a huge loss.
Fist, car plate numbers:
Car plates number are prestige symbols here (the smaller the number, the better). They are auctioned off to the highest bidders.
As for the rest of your message, I am not going to waste my time refuting each and every point (there are private newspapers and TV channels BTW).
For those interested, UAE is a federation of 7 Emirates (provinces). The largest of which is Abu Dhabi. All the 7 are ruled by dynasties. The governance of the country is voted among those dynasties.
We have been, so far, lucky to have good people ruling those dynasties. This is why you do not hear much about Democracy. Poeple are living quite well and they see no need change what has been working for the last few decades. This might change in the future once we get a bad apple in those dynasties.
During the last few years, the UAE's government, and Dubai government in particular was trying to diversify away from oil. There are some quite huge projects currently underway, with a focus on attracting tourism and business. They have been successful so far, with the country seeing more than 10 million tourists per year, along with most of the multin-nationals using UAE for their regional HQ.
Some of the projects currently being built can be labeled as audacious.. but so far, what was finished among them (and even some that have not been even started yet) have been extremely successful (sold out, mainly to ex-ptriates). These include the tallest tower in the world, three huge palm-shaped islands, along with a collection of islands in the form of the world map, Dubailand, and many others.
...Ah, yes, the "trained professional" chestnut. I'm special, you see, and only with my super powers is it OK to drive fast. See how elite I am: .000001% (or about 3 people in the whole US)!
Wrong. It's not rocket science to drive 75 MPH, on a sunny day, on a road designed for that speed, in a car designed for that speed, which is to say almost any car on the road today. The problem isn't you the driver, it is the other cars. If one of them changes lanes, or pulls out in front of you, you need to avoid them. It's your visibility that indicates your appropriate speed in most cases. On the flat open freeway, that's not a problem. And 20 years of driving experience beats a 25-year-old cop with "special training" in recognizing which is which.
If it was safe for the cop, it was safe for the other drivers. That said, the law is what it is.