Hitting the road can sometimes be really frustrating. Lots of motorists don't seem to care about the law, turning other people's weekday commute or peaceful Sunday ride into a nightmare. And unfortunately, these boneheads often get a free pass since there are no patrol officers nearby to catch them in the act, which further adds to the frustration.
''DriveMeCrazy'' is a new smartphone application that could significantly reverse the trend, allowing car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to report bad behaviour on the road and do themselves justice. For instance, if someone passes you by crossing over a double yellow line, you can ''flag'' the culprit. Once the offense has been reported, along with the date, time, location and license plate number, the poor sap will be identified in the database and receive a virtual ticket.
Shazam co-founder Philip Inghelbrecht, who developed the app, wants to implement pilot programs with the U.S. Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and insurance companies in order to cut the number of motor vehicle accidents 1 or 2 percent by 2020, a figure that would represent 700 lives saved annually.
It's not unfeasible. If drivers know they’re being watched by smartphone-wielding vigilantes and negative reports about their on-road behaviour could increase their insurance premiums and driver's license costs, Inghelbrecht figures they will change their habits for fear of getting flagged.
However, there is some controversy stemming from the potential use of such information by insurance companies. Because each individual who would observe another driver’s performance would have a unique perspective about what might be safe behaviours, it would be difficult to collect accurate, non-biased information. After all, it would be easy to flag someone just because you don't like that person.
''Our data is never as official or authoritative as a police report,'' says Inghelbrecht. But with a large number of reports and flags in the database, accuracy and credibility would improve markedly.
The company is developing safeguards to ensure that multiple flags of the same driver from the same user are ignored, and that mistakenly entered plates are matched with other location data. DriveMeCrazy vigilantes can also report someone who is driving safely and determine who's the better driver.
Source: Wired
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| Photo: drivemecrazy.mobi |
''DriveMeCrazy'' is a new smartphone application that could significantly reverse the trend, allowing car drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to report bad behaviour on the road and do themselves justice. For instance, if someone passes you by crossing over a double yellow line, you can ''flag'' the culprit. Once the offense has been reported, along with the date, time, location and license plate number, the poor sap will be identified in the database and receive a virtual ticket.
Shazam co-founder Philip Inghelbrecht, who developed the app, wants to implement pilot programs with the U.S. Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and insurance companies in order to cut the number of motor vehicle accidents 1 or 2 percent by 2020, a figure that would represent 700 lives saved annually.
It's not unfeasible. If drivers know they’re being watched by smartphone-wielding vigilantes and negative reports about their on-road behaviour could increase their insurance premiums and driver's license costs, Inghelbrecht figures they will change their habits for fear of getting flagged.
However, there is some controversy stemming from the potential use of such information by insurance companies. Because each individual who would observe another driver’s performance would have a unique perspective about what might be safe behaviours, it would be difficult to collect accurate, non-biased information. After all, it would be easy to flag someone just because you don't like that person.
''Our data is never as official or authoritative as a police report,'' says Inghelbrecht. But with a large number of reports and flags in the database, accuracy and credibility would improve markedly.
The company is developing safeguards to ensure that multiple flags of the same driver from the same user are ignored, and that mistakenly entered plates are matched with other location data. DriveMeCrazy vigilantes can also report someone who is driving safely and determine who's the better driver.
Source: Wired