Traffic Safety Product Idea: Electronic Pace Car bumper signs

by phil on Tuesday Dec 2, 2008 11:32 PM
ideas for business

The Pace car concept already exists, where people pledge to drive the speed limit. The idea is if enough people in a community do this, then it could have a calming effect on the speed of all cars, and therefore reduce accidents.

What if I could install a device on my back bumper that said the word "PACE" and what it would do is track the speed of cars around me, and then send that information to Google or law enforcement over WhisperNet or cell towers. Google could use that information to provide accurate traffic speed maps. Or Law enforcement could use it to target areas that are ballooning with high speed traffic. Either way, the "PACE" led lights could scare other drivers into driving slower around these cars. Even though a pace car can't target you like a cop could, it could maybe increase the likelihood that speeders get a ticket by 5x and therefore, incentivize them to slow down.

And then you get car insurance companies to cut your fees in half if you agree to drive with a pace car bumper sign, simply because driving the speed limit would probably reduce the likelihood of an accident by 90% (I don't know what the exact number is, but speeding is very very often an accomplice in car accidents).

This idea came to me ever since I took driving school and the instructor said a couple quotes that sunk in: "The number one thing you can do to improve the safety of your driving is to control your speed." "I haven't gotten a ticket in the last 23 years. You know how? I always drive the speed limit." Ever since those classes (in the summer), I've obeyed the speed limit 95% of the time, and yeah, it feels really safe. Sometimes I don't want to do it. For example there's a turn where the speed limit is dropped to 25mph, and I used to cringe when I had to slow down. But now I realize that if you are going any faster on that turn, and a car was stopped in your lane, you wouldn't see it fast enough to slow down. In other words, speed limits are set for our own safety.