How often do you see a bad driver do something crazy and say to yourself, “That person is going to hurt someone.” Don’t you think you should do something about it rather than just muttering the scary thought to yourself?
I propose a web-based database to record feedback about other drivers.
In a world where everything is quantified and analyzed, recorded and then talked about online, I find driving records and transparency to be quite old-fashioned. We rely on understaffed policeman with weak technology support to keep our streets in order. The courts decision making data consists of know a drivers zero/one/two/three strike record, the stats for the current offense (doing 45 in a 25), and an otherwise manipulated driving record that is wiped clean with every drivers school redemption. People spend a major portion of their life on the road and we know almost nothing about how well they do it.
The public enjoys commenting on driving in general. People yell, scream, honk, wave, and otherwise interact with other drivers constantly. They also call in to radio stations to report traffic, report of traffic on Twitter, and tell friends about driving stories constantly. There is a desire to interact with others within the driving process.
What we need is a place to record this desired driving interaction and use it for something beneficial. The core of the application would be a database to gather this information with a front-end website that mimics a social media site. The primary key could be a license plate number; then everyone automatically has an online ID.
The information entry could come from:
- Twitter (use #baddriver or #gooddriver hash tags to discuss drivers)
- iPhone apps
- Website
- OnStar or other wireless connectivity car apps
There could be many features on the website and apps:
- Ratings of drivers
- The ability to refute a bad report
- Social media connectivity
- Useful traffic information
- Ratings of drivers
This could be useful for the logistics industry as it could replace the “How is my driving?” bumper stickers. This could be useful for the government to help manage severity of traffic violations.
This could be useful for the DMV for renewing drivers licenses. On that note, why are DMV driving test results not public information? Shouldn’t driving, written, and vision tests be able to be published? (I wouldn’t mind seeing the testers be recorded as well, as I’ve seen irresponsible DMV employees pass blind people on their vision tests). All of this data could go into this public database.
What do you think? Useful tool? Waste of time?
*image source: cartoonstock.com
