The idea is to prevent hit and run drivers from getting away by having the tread of a car's tires be a barcode of the license plate. then when someone screeches to a stop they are leaving their signature on the pavement. Problems: Anti-lock brakes, snow, gripping power of parellel treads
-- WhiteWiz, Mar 05 2004

RFID tires http://www.rfidjour...rticleview/269/1/1/
[egads, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

A car fingerprint as it were - I like it! Btw, the barcode doesn't have to match the plate, simply be linked to it in some registry.
-- DrCurry, Mar 05 2004


Simple and sweet. [+]
-- Klaatu, Mar 05 2004


Problem: The tire's tread could be easily modified unintentionally by road debris and normal wear, or intentionally with a file or sandpaper.
-- nick_n_uit, Mar 05 2004


Good intentions, less practical than collating all citizens by height. If you thought tracking guns was difficult.....

"Use your tires, go to jail"

"Three skids and you're out"
-- normzone, Mar 05 2004


[link] Baked in an alternate form. Scary privacy concern actually. It would be conceivable (though difficult) to set up roadside monitors that made logs of all tires that passed. It would be much easier to do this in places where cars were nearly stationary, like at the entrances to public parking garages. It's getting harder and harder to be anonymous...
-- egads, Mar 05 2004


I've just posted for a different kind of identification of tires that would allow one to ID the tires to trace illegally dumped tires.
-- gbleem, Mar 05 2004


Yes, and that was very clever of you after reading the linked news story.
-- Worldgineer, Mar 05 2004


geez nobody razed me about the expense of making custom tires for every vehicle on the road...go figure. The idea I had for a barcode bumper to tattle on hit & run drivers was a little grim.
-- WhiteWiz, Mar 07 2004



random, halfbakery