Glow-In-The-Dark Smart Highways Coming To the Netherlands In 2013 167
An anonymous reader writes "The Netherlands is moving forward with plans to build 'smart' highways that can become more easily visible in the dark or communicate weather conditions to drivers. Work will begin as early as next year. 'Special paint will also be used to paint markers like snowflakes across the road's surface — when temperatures fall to a certain point, these images will become visible, indicating that the surface will likely be slippery. Roosegaarde says this technology has been around for years, on things like baby food — the studio has just up-scaled it. The first few hundred meters of glow in the dark, weather-indicating road will be installed in the province of Brabant in mid-2013, followed by priority induction lanes for electric vehicles, interactive lights that switch on as cars pass and wind-powered lights within the next five years.'"
The War On Common Sense (Score:0, Interesting)
The first few hundred meters of glow in the dark, weather-indicating road will be installed in the province of Brabant in mid-2013
They do realize .. you had to be outside to either get in the car or at least to pull out of the garage, right? Might notice things like "shit it's below freezing" or "shit it's snowy, roads might be slick". Just sayin'.
Like the weather station telling me it is raining right now. Yeah no shit, I can look out the window and I can hear it on the roof.
As an American, I want my country to monopolize this war on common sense. Americans don't look at road markings - that's why their SUVs are always weaving across the double-yellow at least a few times a minute. Everybody doing that makes it easy for drunk drivers to get away with it too. Oh and actually watching traffic conditions and road painting might mean putting down the cellphone we're texting on or the cheeseburger we're eating because we're fat and it's been a while 20 minutes since we last ate a 1000 calorie meal. We have to do this as much as possible because soon self-driving cars will remove the thrill of being a stupid and unnecessary threat to everyone else!
And that's the American Way. It's about time these damned Netherlands people realized they're stealing our anti-intellectual property.
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Dirt Proof? (Score:4, Interesting)
The US just has far more drivers and far more emphasis on driving a person vehicle as compared to other countries and hence it gets a bad name.
Given how much 'emphasis' you say we put on driving, you'd think we'd be better at it no?
Have you been to Europe? In Germany, it takes literally almost 2 years to get your license. Driving school is that long and costs a couple thousand dollars if memory serves.
Compare that to the US where everyone gets their license after 20 minutes test consisting of a K-turn and nothing over 45 mph. Who do you think turns out better drivers?
People routinely fail driving tests in Europe, because driving really is a 'privilege' and they make it hard to earn.
We on the other hand let damn near anyone drive.