Accident investigation relies (relied?) heavily on position of a skid mark and its length. With ABS becoming the norm, this is one piece of information missing from the investigation.

I suggest that as the ABS becomes active, it sprays paint onto the floor, replicating where a skid mark would have been, or proving whether or not the brake was actually applied. It could even print the vehicle's speed too.
-- paraffin power, Apr 13 2005

Having worked at a rental car "arena," I can say with confidence that this would be a horrible thing to do to the road. I don't know how many non-regulated races we had, but the roads would be covered in spraypaint, no matter where they were.
-- AfroAssault, Apr 13 2005


it'd be cool to have car inkjet capability, so you could write messages to the cars behind you.
-- theircompetitor, Apr 13 2005


If the ink/paint was biodegradable (gone from sun/rain) in a few days, I think it would work. Croissant!
-- trekbody, Apr 13 2005


Maybe use talcum powder, or flour, or something.
-- moomintroll, Apr 13 2005


If it were biodegradable and washed out in a couple of days, it would probably be much less useful for investigations. Your heart's in the right place, [paraffin], but I think this would end up either too messy or too useless.
-- disbomber, Apr 13 2005


Many cars with ABS now also have a "black box" capability that records, among other things, the ABS behavior, speed, airbag deployment, etc. for the last 30 seconds before impact.
-- krelnik, Apr 14 2005



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