(By Bryan McTaggart) – In a move that seems less like a public safety move and more like something Wile E. Coyote would try, the state of Missouri, in it’s infinite wisdom, has decided to use Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRAD’s) to deter speeders in construction zones, as was reported by Jalopnik’s Michael Ballaban.
An LRAD is a freaking sound cannon that is normally used for riot control and as an anti-piracy . It is capable of maintaining volume over distance…in other words, the sound will be as loud 300 meters away from the speaker as if you were right next to the speaker. At 153 dB, you’re looking at just over what it would sound like if a Boeing jet cleared you on takeoff with 25 meters to spare. The system is designed to give the targeted people a severe headache as well as to treat them to the near-actual “wall of sound” experience. Which is exactly what you want to do to traffic on an Interstate, right? Scare the living shit out of a driver with a blast of sound, then give them a blinding migraine on top of it. There are some people I have ridden with who almost lose control of the car if I suddenly sneeze without warning, let alone a noise that’s louder than a bomb blast. I can’t wait to see what kinds of lawsuits come out of this absolutely genius idea. I know…if this doesn’t work, they can shoot rubber bullets at speeding cars to get them to slow down! That’ll be effective!
I’m not against deterring speeding in a construction zone, far from it. I fully encourage the Missouri State Patrol to keep their construction workers safe. But this idea is absolutely stupid from the start. Stop reaching into the ACME catalog for your ideas and find a better solution than this one, ok?
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OK, this is an insane idea, and reading this I shot coffee all over my desk!
How about giant foam rubber hammers like a “whack a mole” game? ACME catalog pg.10.
Yeah thats gonna work real well . Can’t wait to see the amount of accidents and hear attacks this strategy will cause .
Ahhh .. Misery [ MO ] Yet another reason making me/us glad we left the State to come back to Colorado . Corrupt police . Abysmal public schools . Border State racial mentality [ that makes the Deep South seem liberal by comparison ] Red neck vengeance passing off as justice . Good Ole Boy and nepotism abounding . Yeah…. I just loved living in Misery . About as much as I’d love driving a Prius !
Here n Georgia they have a real effective way of slowing traffic in construction zone. It called CWR (cops with radar). works 100% of the time.
So I guy is running the speed limit as he gets in range of one of these, and another guy comes screaming past him speeding. Both of them get it. Sounds rational…
Update: The sound that Missouri is going to blast speeders with is “Macho Man” by the Village People. The concept that a bearded construction worker in short-shorts is a mile up the road waiting is apparently enough to cause most of Missouri drivers to get off at the next exit.
As a Missourian, I think this is asinine did they not think about the road crew they are suppose to protect? Those go off not only will it screw up the drivers but the road crews as well.
This can’t be real. it s way too stupid.
A plan formulated by either an Obama voter or an Obama appointee or both?
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit, with the onset of drive by wire technology, that they will soon have some sort of radio control system to automatically “govern” the cars down to not travel at speeds exceeding what’s posted in construction zones. That being said, the days of trying to outrun the police could be over as well if you’re driving anything new. Cars can already be equipped to drive themselves, so I don’t think this is a matter of if, but when.
I think it is a great , somthing needs to be done.I work for Emergency responder and people don’t even see us or hear us and those guys just have cones and strobe light. So it’s either they have to slow traffic down to very safe speed (aka under 25mph) or try somthing like th
Checks calendar. No, I was correct, it is not still April 1st. Still, this seems like some kind of prank. How did this get by everyone that needed to be involved in okaying it?