I know we all get frustrated when driving behind a slow driver. It can be a very annoying experience.
The majority of the time, the culprits of slow driving are elderly motorists. It is very common for older drivers to drive at 20mph in 30mph zone or even 30mph in 60mph zone. The reasons behind slow driving is because elderly drivers become more pre-cautious in their old age. Also diminishing senses (eyesight, hearing, touch) have a big impact on their driving skills
An idea we discussed in our brainstorm was a speed accelerator for elderly motorists.Cars owned by elderly people would be installed with devices that control the speed of the vehicle.
The device would have 'Satnav' functionality, so the road that the vehicle is travelling on can be established. Using this knowledge, the device can establish what the speed limit is on this road.
So if the car is travelling at 20mph in a 40 mph zone, the device will increase the speed to meet the limit.
Obviously, the device will have to be user friendly, it can not just execute an instant acceleration without warning the driver! This could catch the driver by surprise and they could lose control of the vehicle.
The device could use a friendly voice that will:
- Warn a driver if he/she is driving too slow
- Inform driver that the device will gently increase the speed
The only thing that I am unsure of is whether 'Satnav' devices know what the speed limits are on different roads.
I welcome any suggestions on this idea, so we can develop it further :-)
2 comments:
Yeah man, agree with the idea but would be worried if there was a malfunction on the device...telling the unaware oldy to go 60mph in a 30 mph...haha
On your comment on the Satnav and whether it can check speed limits...the answer is yes, it can tell you that you are over the speed limit, but it doesn’t say anything when people are driving slowly, so there definitely is a future for this thought.
I couldn’t be more ‘happy’ about the idea, damn grannies and granddads always making me late for important meetings with my boys, I tend to commit road rage and repeatedly HONK them.
You could also implement a 'decelerator' option, where if an old person is going to fast; it reduces their speed to the speed limit, as older people’s reaction times and vision is more often than not lower than that of the average driver on the road.
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