In addition to the braking announcing LEDs proposed by - jshare - a 10" dia. light panel placed centrally in rear that changes smoothly through the color spectrum according to your speed. Even with your speed displayed on the panel. Then a smaller version on your own dash that let's your subconscious compare colors with the car ahead.
-- M Carter, Dec 31 2007

Speed Lights Speed_20Lights#1132927927
[xaviergisz, Dec 31 2007]

I'm pretty sure this is (was?) baked in Japan, where trucks had to have three coloured lights on the cab top, indicating speed.
Of course, red/green colour-blind drivers are going to end up in a lot of shunt collisions [-]
-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, Dec 31 2007


All white in the back? = blinding acceleration.
-- Ling, Dec 31 2007


// All white in the back? = blinding acceleration //

But sufficent acceleraton will cause a Doppler shift .... thus causing the light to go red ...... oooops.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 31 2007


//light to go red // sp: redder. Very surprised that [Ling] missed that.
-- 4whom, Dec 31 2007


No, if the acceleration was fast enough, you would see red, green and blue so close together, they would appear to be white.
-- Ling, Dec 31 2007


Incorrect.

If you accelerate a polychromatic light source to relativistic velocities, the "red" wavelenghts will shift into the far infra-red; the green will shift to the near infra-red; and the blue will shift to "visible" red.

Only if the source is emitting in the UV band will any yellow or green be detectable ....
-- 8th of 7, Dec 31 2007


? not *that* bloody fast...

Red light = stop
Green = few mph
Blue = few more mph

Accelerate fast enough, and all three blur together. That's all.
-- Ling, Dec 31 2007


// not *that* bloody fast //

What sort of a clunker do you crawl round in, then ? Not one of those cruddy old Constitution-class jobs is it, the ones where the Dilithium crystals are always breaking and the dodgy transporter ...
-- 8th of 7, Dec 31 2007


There should be a LED bumper that lets other people know who the dangerous drivers are: the ones who can't back up, merge, follow posted speed limits, pass, drunk drivers, red light runners or simple those who are tourists. Of course each offense would have its own colour.
-- grim, Dec 31 2007


[grim] there is such a bumper indicator - the California license plate.
-- globaltourniquet, Jan 01 2008


What I'm going for is absolute simplicity of design, simplicity for our subconscious. Not sure what it would be like in reality, might cause confusion. But it may be a nice little spice to add to the task of driving, maybe increasing safety via better information about what's going on around you at 130 kph. Not just red, yellow, green, but covering the whole , full color spectrum, shaded with sunlight baffles, enticingly rich tones.

Maybe a strong, almost intuitive feeling would develop between your brain and the colors, like the automatic reactions we quickly develop to hit the brakes or swerve when something pops up on the road, it's almost automatic, not requiring alot of reflection. The color system might give you a few milliseconds extra to react.

Though speeds should be automatically controlled anyway, keep those idiots off us, no more high speed tailgating.

The goal of intuitive design has also only been lightly implemented by the highway dept. Direction signs are not so well designed and laid out, either for informative clarity or for subconscious comfort and intuition. It's a wonder there aren't more accidents. Billboards, what a bunch of simps we are to allow them. They are more restricted in Europe.

What the complex, bewildering, confusing, chaotically dangerous modern age lacks and needs, is redundancy, (especially in IT product manuals) rows of safey checks.

In the fifties nobody wore seat belts, they weren't even standard. Now most everybody feels naked without them. The speed cameras have dramatically reduced deaths. Numerous electronic safety tricks are waiting to become standards.

Bring on, not, Big Brother, but, Yo Mamma.
-- M Carter, Jan 03 2008


This really ought to be an idea for a faster-than-light wave that announces the speed of the photon which is on its way to you. Some sort of system involving cosmic rays and Cerenkov radiation might work as long as you're not in a vacuum.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 03 2008


Bell's theorem ?

How you would establish a suitable quantum entanglement between the preceeding and suceeding vehicle is, however, a difficult problem to address .......
-- 8th of 7, Jan 03 2008



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