During my commute into the office, I am often plagued by 'ghosts'. Now I am not referring to eerie, translucent images of long-gone travelers, but the shattered tail light and broken parts of their car crash earlier in the day.
You see, an hour earlier, along this stretch of road, someone rear-ended another someone and they blocked the freeway. Now that the cars are cleared and everyone involved has found alternative transportation, all that is left behind is the ghost of the original incident. People continue to slow down, as if to pay our respects. This domino effect continues until the ghost finally moves on, usually after rush hour.
In my opinion, the most predominant reason that traffic builds up is the rubber-necking, slowing to see any carnage on the side of the road. Of course, the carnage is typically a bent bumper. This is why I suggest that we have a first responders group that attempts to make it to all accidents. On the scene, this elite group of people do a few things to help speed up traffic.
- Document the accident. Pictures are taken and immediately loaded up on a Google My Maps-type server and attached to the GPS coordinates of the site.
- Move the accident. A forklift, attached to the tow truck moves the accident off to the side of the road.
- Quarantine the accident. A 10' high screen is immediately erected that hides the accident, cars and victims behind the screen. The only people who can see beyond the screen are those that need to (police, ambulance, etc.)
The idea with the website is two-fold. Imagine a system like the " Dash" that will provide real-time traffic information. This information is provided by other Dash users on the same freeways as you. Why not also share pictures of the accidents if you are curious? (That way those of us not curious can get to work.) Now, users with camera phones can provide the images and using a widget immediately upload with GPS coordinates to the site.
Radio stations will have instantaneous information about accidents.
Employee late for work? Check their route in to verify.
(work in progress)
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