If this stops even one wreck from interrupting a mobile call, it's worth it.

Omnidirectional strobe under centermost traffic control beacon just flashes when an active mobile phone is within range. A transponder on the roadway senses the mobile carrier wave and prompts the strobe into action. Any car within sight of the intersection is alerted to the presence of an oncoming distracted driver and can take evasive action.

This could also be folded into a multispectral sensor to signal the presence of extremely loud noise and vibration like from a Harley-Davidson ridden by a highly attractive and scantily clad biker, or by automobile cabin sensors that detect smoke filled cabins or fighting words.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 03 2004

Gulliver Travel Bulletin http://gulliver.trb..._detail.asp?id=2931
A Swedish study. [dpsyplc, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Has it occurred to you that passengers can use cell-phones without any hazard at all to other road users?
-- angel, Jul 03 2004


Has occured to me, yes. Does this create a hazard? I'll leave that to you to discover. Last I heard, it's more distracting to allow phone use by passengers than it is to take the call yourself.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 03 2004


If someone cannot answer/talk on a phone without crashing, wouldn't this strobe light exacerbate the problem?
-- Acme, Jul 03 2004


A driver who'd been drinking would be more likely to enter an intersection deathtrap, from either negligence or during a strobe-induced seizure. Either way, someone on a cell phone is off the call or is too busy driving to read signals.
-- dpsyplc, Jul 03 2004


Kumbaya...

Sorry. Misread the title.
-- lostdog, Jul 03 2004



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