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Assistive Technologies - Let's improve night time driving

A project log for Retro-futuristic automobile control panel

Conversion of dashboard from an old, Communist clone of the French Renault 12 (Dacia 1310)

skaarj[skaarj] 08/23/2016 at 07:342 Comments

Allright, I'll keep this short for now because I'm at work and boss will get very angry if I'm discovered writing a new log instead of watching the monitors while the antivirus is doing its job over the entire network.

As my colleagues from hack-chat already know, I went to Greece taking my princess for a test drive in May this year. I left Romania, I passed Bulgaria during night time and I arrived at Makaza-Komotini pass in the morning. Around 8 hours of driving in pitch dark in the Bulgarian mountains. Because I read all sort of weird news and reports in the newspapers, I decided to build (hack) a counter-measure to get there safe and also to get back in one piece. There are some gangs in Bulgaria which simulate a car accident or car malfunction, and ask people to stop and provide help. Basically you're driving, it's night, sometimes fog is present and there's this guy with a ramped car waving his hands desperately. You, a decent unsuspecting driver, decide to stop, come out of the car and offer to help. Five seconds later some more guys appear from a nearby forest with Kalashnikov guns pointed at your head. From this moment your life is on the table, Mafia is the poker dealer and the house has all lucky hands: you lose your car, your money, your phone, your daughter, your wife, your clothes, even your underwear. The ramp-jacked car also leaves and if you are lucky, they let you barely alive. Broken bones are mandatory.

How can you avoid such incidents?

You need some help provided by Assistive Technology. You need to see them from far away. You need to see the road as clear as possible to avoid any other nasty stuff such as pieces of wood with nails or spike strips to blow all your tires. You don't need to win the round. You need to survive and to keep your family safe.

When I returned from Greece one week later, I saw some guy with a stopped car and the spare wheel near it. He waved his hands at me. Behind some trees, my googles informed me there were more people, so I kept going and informed the Police.

I will be back with building details.

In the mean time follow my advice: don't waste your sleep() time. It does bad things to your heart.

[END OF TRANSMISSION]

Discussions

RoGeorge wrote 08/24/2016 at 21:31 point

While reading, I felt like I was watching some good slow-mo movie scenes, delighted!

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vignesh wrote 08/24/2016 at 07:42 point

Eagerly waiting for this update. Have heard many similar incidents in India too.

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