Big Brother Safemiles
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- It’s an electronic stick and carrot with a plan to keep our roads safe as the ultimate up-front objective.
“Over the next four months, Big Brother will be watching 50 Manitoba drivers — and rewarding them for good behaviour,” says the Edmonton Sun.
“Laptops, gift cards and restaurant meals are among the prizes being offered to drivers who can manage to stay a safe distance from the cars in front of them and drive below the speed limit during the course of a study called Safemiles.”
Ottawa company GW Taylor Consulting, is working under contract to Transport Canada with Winnipeg’s Persen Technologies coordinating the study, and supplying the in-vehicle devices.
It works like this, says the Safemiles site »»»
The on-board equipment measures two aspects of driving behaviour – speed and headway. It consists of the following components:
Equipment
- a device called OttoView-CVS41, that includes an integrated display, Global Position System (GPS) receiver, a vehicle diagnostic instrument, a wireless transmitter, and a digital speed map of Winnipeg and the surrounding area
- a connection to the vehicle’s on-board diagnostic system to measure fuel use
- a small radar distance sensor
A dashboard-mounted display in the car shows the driver whether he/she is within the speed limit as well as at a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Through four icons and a small Light Emitting Diode (LED), the display and icon shows whether driving behaviour is “compliant”. At the correct speed a small icon illuminates; if the speed limit is exceeded another icon is illuminated. The same applies to the minimum safe distance from the car in front: one icon for the correct distance and another one when you are too close. When both speed and headway are compliant, the LED is green, indicating compliance and that points are being collected. When the LED is yellow, either speed and/or headway distance is not compliant, therefore no points are collected. Speed and distance are assessed every second; the display unit is immediately updated. At the end of the journey, driving behaviour is translated into points, which are then displayed when the engine is turned off.
The computer assesses the distance to the car ahead through a small radar sensor mounted on the vehicle’s front bumper. This unit combines the speed derived from the vehicle and this distance to calculate the headway time. If there is no car in front, then the headway status is not used in the driving evaluation. Thus, only speed is assessed.
Says the Edmontion Sun, “For every 15 seconds of error-free driving, they accumulate points. At the end of the study, the points can be redeemed for prizes.
“The drivers will start being monitored Monday. They get no feedback from the box for the first two weeks while it records their driving habits. Beginning Aug. 16, the box displays certain icons when the driving is all good and different ones when it records a speed or distance infraction.
The final two weeks of the study are silent again, “with the box checking to see if the driver’s behaviour has changed,” the story adds.
It doesn’t say what happens to the data which are, presumably, both negative and positive depending on the driving habits of the people taking part, or if their identities are disclosed to anyone for any reason.
Edmonton Sun – Black box monitors Manitoba drivers, July 31, 2009
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July 31st, 2009 at 8:47 am
Mice, go find the cheese at the end of the maze. Every “correct” turn earns you points towards more cheese!
Run little mice, run. RUN!