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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.""
That's pretty awesome for a place where traffic law informcent in itself is pretty weak and the drivers are pretty insane. But really, how is one to guarentee these devices stay in the cars?
:) There's two sides, naturally.
I for one would pull it off my car and throw it somewhere.
But hey, some may like it and some may see it as a violation of their "freedom to drive like an idiot"
It's just Crap.
Would this system also be implemented in public vehicles, such as the police themselves?
Shouldn't the cops get a ticket as well, if they are not "chasing the bad guy", say trying to get to the local krispy kreme before it closes?
Of the population, how many who do not follow the speed limit or maintain "safe" breaking distances (which seem rather arbitrary) get into accidents? I don't think that automatically handing out tickets will necessarily make any of those people safe drivers, it will just generate more revenue for the state. With race tracks shutting down due to not wanting liability, it would seem the only feasible way for that to work would be state-run tracks. There people could legally race and perhaps even be taught how to deal with hazards like hydroplaning in rain and such.
( o ) one could say I'm rather baked
The article states there are some two million drivers but they're only going to install this into some thousand vehicles, so how do they determine who gets it and who doesn't? My guess is first or second time offenders would get them first similar to how criminals are released back into society but have to "check in" with local law enforcement every now and then or when they move they have to "register" with the local sheriff. I imagine there will be random checks to make sure the devices stay installed in the vehicle as well.
i live there! this isnt a case of the government not having enough money, just do a google for burj dubai. they have money coming out of there fucking dicks. they have tonnes of oil. they even own madame tussads in england!. its simply that the traffic laws are a joke, no one uses their indicators, almost everyone speeds, people drive 20 kmph in a 90 zone, people drive 368 kmph in a 20 kmph zone. paired with the fact they have so much fucking money, that 18 year olds are getting ferrari's for their first cars. personally, i cant wait till it arrives, im gonna hack the gibson and make a fuck load of money! "In UAE, a car's plate number can have variable number of digits. No 1 is reserved for the Sultan of the province (there are 7 provinces there, Dubai being the biggest one). No 2 is usually the Sultan's brother, and the 1 digit numbers are all family members of the sultan. Cousins and close friends get 2 digit numbers, as well as their wives and their children. The 3 digit numbers are also relatives of the relatives of Sultan. Ordinary cars have 5 digits on their plates." "there is no sultan in the UAE, its a sheikh."
I just can't wait for the day when all cars will be computerized and manual driving of any kind will be illegal. Then while I'm kicking back in my car drinking a coffee and listening to music while reading a book, I can think about all those enraged college students and idiot boomers fuming over the fact that they no longer get to endanger everyone else with their complete and total lack of skill...and smile.
Hey, it's no different than legislating moronic things like seatbelt and helmet laws. If you think you have a moral imperative to act as my daddy, then I'll assume your position and bring it to its logical conclusion. And laugh at you every time you bitch about the 'good ol' days', when every stupid shit who insisted that *they* were great drivers put everyone else on the road at risk every time they got behind the wheel.
Until that beautiful day, I'll back any bill that makes it a shooting offense for people to use their cell phones while driving. I swear to christ, those morons are as bad as any drunk....
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Bwahaha! Yeah, it's the people who drive safely and according to the official regulations who are dangerous -- not us speed freaks who break the rules and make new ones for themselves simply because we're so goddamned good drivers. Nice rationalization.
You wouldn't have any problem with the people doing 50 if you were doing 50 as well. "The other people are driving 70 mph too" is a pathetic excuse a kid might come up with. Besides, most people seriously overestimate their driving abilities.
The owls are not what they seem
my cred: I lived in the UAE for a good 17 SEVENTEEN years of my life, I grew up there but now am studying in Canada...
First my one and only critisism, Dubai is not the largest province, Abu Dhabi is. Dubai (the city) is just the most well known and tourist happy city.
I totally back this guy up, drivers here are nuts. And you don't have to be a bigshot to do it, every other person drives like a maniac. No blindspots, no indicator lights, round-a-bouts that are hell and such fast driving.
Trust me when I say this, this sort of thing is needed here. Invasion of privacy my butt, safety comes first. BUT, like people above have suggested, the rich folk won't be stopped from this. The locals are resourceful, enough money/status will get anything removed and like the parent said, the police can't do anything to the royal family(extended). I have heard stories about one of them patrolling disguised as a normal person...and stopping folk who drove dangerously and threating them , that was encouraging to hear.
The rest is off-topic... but read it damn you cause i've spent a good half hour writing instead of doing ch 8 - sample and hold circuits...
In response to your "rights" concern... the people don't want change because everything is good for them. Who needs free speech when the government takes good care of you? Who cares about election when all nationals have a "stock" in the oil and get handsome dividends? Heck if I knew nothing about management and was head/manager/executive of one of the many oil companies, I wouldn't complain at all.
The people who do need rights are the expatriates...like myself and youself. These people constitute a a third (or two-thirds...i forget) of the population. They have few rights, can own no property (though this a changing...) cannot get citizenship, cannot openly practice their religion. (Bear in mind I said openly. They are good in the way that there are no banned religions or stuff like that...hold on...jews DON'T even think about going there. Their religion on the other hand is literally blasted into the city (the numerous mosques - 5 surrounding my building... - have megaphones).
TV is censored... for porn mostly though. R rated movies are shown on tv though. CNN Global and BBC global are cable channels. Internet is proxy fiiltered, all porn/anti-islamic/pro jew stuff is filtered out.
I hope I haven't given an overly bad impression of the place... the old locals are really nice but the youngins have attitudes and are snobs. Women, at least western or expatriate (indians, pakistanies, filipinos...americans, british etc) ones can wear whatever they want. There is no "dress code", but decency is probably enforced...(no bikinis inside malls...but i have seen them on the waterfront) Local women probably could wear what they wanted...but husbands/familt would object, not the government. This is the place to come to make a lot of money, good careers here are chem engineers, finance releated, and IT for the booming Dubai software business. Civil is booming too.
People who live here GENERALLY love it! Warm (too warm at times) weather, no tax == happy people.
Peace out!
true indeed, not to mention that the expatriaets are not allowed to own a business (they can have a maximum of %49 share) and are not even allowed to buy land or an apartment. I have known pakistanis there who have lived in that country for years, working 6 days a week and trying to raise a family; and yet they are not even allowed to buy a simple apartement there; while the Emiratis get free land from the government.
And the people who work at all the shops as clercks or sellers, at all the cinemas, hotels, bar maids, managers, corporate types, whores, DJs, etc are all foreigners. I am yet to see a single Emirati Arab actually "work" somewhere. I don't exactly know what does the 20% of this population which receive all the profits and money, do; aside from going up and down the street 10 times a day in their $200,000 cars.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Arabs, Over the years I have actualy met some very intelelctual and intelligent Arabs. But the realities of UAE are so drastically shocking, that leave me speechless.
This article is being published in the YRO section, but rest assured guys, no ones rights are being violated here. This device won't be installed in any of the Emirati's cars, and the others simply have no "rights" for it to be violated.
But as I said, you can't build a country like this. This situation has lasted for 20 years now, I wonder how much longer it can last. It is basically the 21st century equivalent of slavery.
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Correct, however unless you have the basic fundamental principles of a democratic society, you won't have sustainable improvement.
I am talking from fist hand experience here. during 1970s, Iran was more or less in the same situation as UAE is today. People had money to burn, resorts were made in the Caspian sea which surprassed those in the Mediterranean; most of the population could easily afford a couple of vacations a year, and many multinational corporations had chosen Iran as their regional centre.
However, one thing was lacking, and that was democracy and the freedom that comes with it. History proves that without these, all other financial improvements are temporary. What happened in my country was that in a short period of time, a revolution happened, everything was turned upside down, economic bans and embargos followed and the economy was shaken and basically ruined. Add to that 8 years of consecutive war with a neighbour (Iraq) and you will understand why we are where we are today.
The situation in UAE is very similar here. They might seem prosperous today, but it's like a building which doesn't have basic correct foundations. You can build on top of it and make a skycrapper out of it, but all it takes to shake this skycrapper is a little push or a little social unrest, as in the case of UAE.
The argument that "We don't want democracy because our rulers are the best" has been proven to be false over and over during history.
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"Most police officers do NOT look on themselves as good little revenue-generators for their respective cities/mayors"
No, they don't. But the guys who run the force do.
Believe me, if the money from speeding tickets never found its way back to the police budget, you'd see speed traps disappear immediately.
I want to see cops patrolling, cops want to be patrolling, their bosses want to cover the budget. That's a fact.
Besides, if speed limits were an absolute indicator of safety, then why do most cops drive 10-15 MPH over the limit in all circumstances? Because even the cops know the limits are set for grandma, not people with experience, eyes, and a brain.
I've never been pulled over for going over the limit by a patrolling cop. Mainly because they're going faster than me. And this is in 35 years of driving.
Actually, they can be. Cincinnati is getting ready to institute speeding cameras, and the expected revenue is $12 million per year. Some members of the city council are looking at this specifically as a revenue source to help balance the city budget.
Nice try, but you didn't do so good, bucko.
There could be extenuating circumstances surrounding the speed of a vehicle which wouldn't be taken into account when the System fires off a ticket. Tell me which extenuating circumstances might be attached to a rape. I hope they DO come for the rapists, and string them up by their balls.
There are currently no plans to round up the junkies, but if They did come for the junkies, there will be plenty of folks to speak up for them. Addiction is a serious situation which does not lend itself well to false analogies.
Terry Schiavo had 15 (fifteen) years to get better. She had a LOT of people speaking up for her for a LONG time, and in the end, I believe her wishes were carried out.
Hopefully, They will come for you, coopex. Too bad you didn't speak out more intelligently sooner, or someone might have cared.
One of the problems is the fact that almost everyone (if not everyone) breaks traffic laws at some point. But only a percentage are ticketed with negative consequences. This is a recipe for widespread dissatifaction. Of course, if they could ticket everyone, heads would roll (laws, speed limits, and elected officials would quickly change)....
Which is why speed limits need to go away. A logical way of deterring bad drivers from causing harm would be to punish for harming someone. Like this:
1st accident - huge fine
2nd accident - lose license for 1 year
3rd accident - lose license for 5 years
4th accident - lose license. period.
Accident resulting in death - manslaughter charge, 5-15 years of prison.
1st DUI/DWI - lose license for 5 years
2nd DUI/DWI - lose license forever
DUI/DWI accident resulting in death - 2nd (or 3rd) degree murder.
Driving without a license -
Very simple, straightforward, and easy to enforce. When someone screws up, they deal with it. Hopefully it scares them straight. If they screw up bad enough, they aren't a problem in the future.
Of course, this puts more burden on the prison system, so they're going to have pass or revise laws to drastically reduce the amount of legal bullshit for the serious offenders, increase the number of death penalty and slap-on-the-wrist cases, and actually execute people on death row instead of letting them sit there for a decade or two. This is, of course, way too much to ask or expect from our lazy-ass lawmakers.
And why would a cop pay attention to someone's signaling, when they could be looking at other things that actually *cause* problems like their head/tail lights (at night) along with speeding?
Not signaling IS a major cause of accidents. I would bet much more so than having one light bulb out (cars pretty much have two of everything in case you didn't notice... except for turn signals, which you don't seem to think matter anyways).
It's a LOT easier to catch speeders than illegal lane changes and cutting people off.
Which is exactly what I was saying. Cops are more concerned with easy money than actually helping.
That's unfortunate that it bothers you, but you have to pay attention to the road. Many drivers are ignorant, stupid, inconsiderate, etc. Cops cannot watch every lane change to make sure they properly use their signal. The best way to avoid bad drivers is not to drive at all.
This is crazy. Cops can't catch every single speeded either, but that not the point. Right now cops basically DON'T EVEN TRY to catch people doing the things that actually cause accidents.
I'm not bitching that's I have to pay attention to the road, I'm bitching because traffic enforcement in this country is retarded. I've seen people change lanes without signaling in front of a cop on many occasions and nothing ever happens. They aren't even doing anything about the people they DO catch as a matter of circumstance, let alone actually trying to actively do something about it.
Do you have any idea how many fewer rush hour accidents we'd have if people weren't cutting each other off all the time?
Life is too short to proofread.
There is a solution to this: vote, and start writing letters to congress. This might not work in UAE, but in the US you can vote. Tell whoever sets the speed limits (could be congress or the city console) to make them reasonable. If they refuse run yourself.
Even if the city sets the limit and you don't live in the city, the state has power. The state just has to tie funding to some project to the speed limit. Things will change. However so long as you complain but don't otherwise make this an issue nothing happens.