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DoT Grants $15M To Test Car-To-Car Communication
itwbennett writes "Car-to-car communications is about to get its first large-scale, real-world test in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute will be putting as many as 3,000 cars equipped with short-range radio on the roads, thanks to a $14.9 million grant it just got from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. DoT reports predict that up to 82 percent of serious accidents among unimpaired drivers can be eliminated or reduced by a little car-to-car negotiation, or an early warning that a sedan three cars ahead just hit the brakes even though you can't see it through the giant SUV directly in front of you."
The problem is, if you put adequate distance between you and the car in front of you for your rate of speed, another driver sees this as an opportunity to squeeze in, which is arguably *more* dangerous.
So what? One more guy ahead of you. Big deal. So F'ing What if someone sneaks in between you and the next car. Did your manhood just get dissed?
Its this "I can't let anyone ahead of me" mentality that is so totally insane, especially when you are in a 40 mile stream of traffic, that is at the heart of some of the stupidest driving you see on the road today.
And, No, it is not arguable more dangerous than flying down the road at 50mph with 8 feet off someone's bumper. Don't even go there.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Yeah, Brakes have a signal. A signal you can't see when the braking car is being tailgated by the H2 in front of you.
If the car in front of you is tailgating the car that's braking, then you'll get plenty of warning when they smash into that car.
So long as you aren't tailgating too, of course.
Around here, one common trick people in SUVs do is as follows:
On a 4 lane + turn lane road, they will haul ass up to a line of stopped cars at a stop light. The light is green, of course, but that makes no difference here because everyone waits about 1 to 2 seconds after the car in front of them moves before accelerating from a stop when the light turns green. But I digress.
Point is: there is a line of stopped cars, and the SUV (who planned to enter in the left turn lane all along) without warning, and with such a sharp angle of attack they nearly tip over, will dart into the left turn lane without even so much as touching their brake.
Me in and Corolla are basically going top speed toward a stopped car at this point. This is done maliciously around here, because I live in a very fundamentalist Christology area. People in SUVs feel they are doing Gods work when they cause grief to people in non-oversized cars.
I've implied that I'm not a Christian. Please mod me up.