accidents
With a
Twilight Zone-like eeriness, these photos show a compilation of accidents, all happening at one particular intersection in Russia. As with the Bermuda Triangle, there's no definitive reason why the spot has attracted so much chaos; in fact, every municipality probably has an intersection or two with a similar appetite for accidents. But rarely do you find one documented so...thoroughly.
[via
englishrussia]
gadgets
Don't tell your boss, but now there's a way to be
even more efficient, without
being at the office. The CarGo Desk Mobile Laptop Desk mounts on the passenger side of your vehicle and includes a laptop stand, a miniature file cabinet, 400-watt power inverter, GPS mount, PDA mount, cell phone mount, printer mount and enough security devices to keep it all locked down, supposedly.
More »
novelties
The police in Philadelphia are taking an ingenious step in an attempt to slow down motorists: deploying 3D speed bumps. Rather than going through the painstaking task of installing real speed bumps, the Philly police are simply laying down flat plastic "speed bumps" that mimic the real thing, all in an effort to fool drivers into slowing down — at least once. Upon first glance, these speed bumps aren't very convincing. But we're sure while traveling at a good 30 or 40 mph they look significantly more realistic.
More »
gadgets
A new piece of police technology will be doing its part to lessen the length of car chases and therefore eliminate the hazards of having a belligerent ex-football player careening down the road in a white Ford Bronco. The StarChase is a device that will mount behind the front grill of any police vehicle. It projects a bullet-looking GPS transmitter to the rear of the vehicle being chased. This allows the police to back off and let the computers do their work tracking the alleged criminal.
More »
news
With just two weeks left until one of the most car-crazy states in the US
bans handset usage while driving, it seems other places are taking note. Dallas, Texas has announced it will be banning handset use in all 651 area school zones. The idea behind the ordinance is understandable, with crosswalks, bus stops and roaming bands of children adding to the usual targets for distracted drivers. But we think enforcing this law may prove challenging.
More »
safety
A study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reiterates a fact made apparent by James Dean in the classic
Rebel Without A Cause: teenagers are some rebellious bastards (for no apparent cause). In 2006,
a law was enacted in North Carolina that completely banned persons under the age of 18 from using any type of cell phone device, including hands-free Bluetooth headsets, while driving. A study was conducted before the law went into effect, and again after the law was enacted, and yielded some alarming results.
More »
novelties
This traffic warder either has brass pendulums or a little beef with a particular cop, as he seems to have ticketed the officer for parking illegally. In most cases, traffic cops are regarded as the lowest form of human being, but in this case the man should be celebrated.
More »
novelties
No matter how much technological mumbo-jumbo is put into modern traffic signals, nothing will top these analog beauties of yesteryear. Used from the 1940s to the 1970s in Australia, these signals are much more efficient because you can tell how much longer you have to wait before commencing hoonage. Despite being relatively small, hard to see and pretty much useless at night, they're still fantastic for impatient drivers (like damn near all of us). Either bring these back or change the illuminated traffic light into an illuminated countdown number. Now
there's a hell of an idea. [
Infosthetics via
Giz]
novelties
Google Earth does a mighty fine job showing the essence of
crazy interchanges, but if you really want to know how ridiculous interchanges can be, check out the underneath view. These interchanges don't come from China, but rather the neighbor of Japan. Ken Ohyama is the man that has captured some of Japan's most efficient traffic clusterfucks. Not only do you get to see the underside of these engineering marvels, but Ohyama is pretty damn good photographer, as well. Check out the gallery below with some of his select works or follow the link to see the entire Flickr set.
[
Flickr Photoset via
Pink Tentacle]
offbeat news
If you were stuck in L.A. rush hour last Friday, there's a chance you encountered the folks from Crimanimal Mass, who took to the freeway, on bicycles (and in-line skates), as part of some sort of demonstration. One of the organizers said the purpose was to raise questions of transportation infrastructure. Aren't there better ways to protest than pissing off the already unruly L.A. commuters? We generally try to
treat everyone equally around these parts, but cyclists on the roads need to GTFO. Sidewalks, son, sidewalks. [
LAist]