Wee-wah-wee-wah-wee-wah
The firetruck screamed through the streets with lights and sirens at full. Precious minutes ticking by.
An intersection, a crowd of cars. One fellow with his stereo on doesn't seem to have noticed the vehicle. Is he looking this way?! No!! Will he stop, or keep going into the intersection?!?! Brake or acelerator? Oh no, there he goes! Move damn you, move!!!! If only this firetruck had ambulantennas.
Ambulantennas are thin strips of fiberglass with bright LED lights set in them. Retracted, they act as extra lights down the side of the vehicle, as they extend forward from the front of the vehicle, they can reach up to 15m into an intersection -- clearing the path by alerting drivers with an in-your-face set of disco lights.
If a car can't stop in time, the fibreglass simply snaps at pre-weakened joints. Replacement is cheap since it is just fibreglass and LED parts.
[Note 1: Ambulances also shoot sparks into intersections, but they are best not fitted to firetrucks due to the extra fire hazard they pose.]
[Note 2: As the firetruck EVENTUALLY reaches the site of the emergency, they are all glad to see that kitty is still stuck in the tree, but safe.]-- not_only_but_also, Oct 06 2004 Design drawing http://beatgroover.com/hb/tennas.gifSee it in action! [not_only_but_also, Oct 06 2004] http://www.bz.pair.com/fun/copsafeel.html [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 08 2004] Reminded me of these http://www.atvconne...nes/Light-Em-Up.cfm [half, Oct 08 2004] or a huge searchlight stuck on top of the fire truck ?-- neilp, Oct 06 2004 Searchlight: Good for night time, but not so bright during day.-- not_only_but_also, Oct 06 2004 EDIT: Changed category to suit concept.-- not_only_but_also, Oct 07 2004 [not_only_but_also] 'but not so bright during day' : surely the brightness isn't relative to the ambient lighting ?-- neilp, Oct 07 2004 I vaguely remember an idea kinda related to something like this with lights on some sort of public safety vehicles. Danged if I can remember anything specific about it though or I'd link it as related (assuming it's still around).-- half, Oct 07 2004 I think I remember bristolz doing a sketch for that one.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 08 2004 Ah, "cops a feel" [link]-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 08 2004 That's one cool-looking cop car.-- david_scothern, Oct 08 2004 (Ah, someone did an illustration for that previous idea, I guess that's what I was remembering.)
I kinda like the concept of this, but since it seems to me to be terribly impractical, (+).-- half, Oct 08 2004 // Is he looking this way?! No!! Will he stop, or keep going into the intersection?!?! Brake or acelerator? Oh no, there he goes! Move damn you, move!!!! //
I think perhaps this particular fireman has had too much coffee.
Being someone who drives a small motorbike (and so is destined to die young and horribly) whilst at the same time listening to music in headphones I can see the merit of this. I check my mirrors and blind spot frequently enough to avoid emergency service vehicles in time but this concept would prevent me from going 'gah!' and swerving dramatically. +-- harderthanjesus, Oct 08 2004 random, halfbakery