It’s no secret, there are a lot of bad drivers out there. I’ve been thinking about this subject lately, and came to a realization. The road is a lot like the internet. People can be aggressive, and take advantage of their anonymity to mess with those around them (See Trolls). I think they also feel as though they’re more capable of getting away with breaking the rules as long as the cops aren’t around (See File Sharing). On the internet, these issues are being dealt with by requiring that a name or phone number be attached to your account. Facebook and Google have been pushing for people to use their real identities for quite some time. Could this same solution apply to the road? Here’s my proposal.
The website. A website is built that allows people to enter a license plate number and the infraction they witnessed. When a license plate number is entered for the first time, a page is generated that is dedicated to that plate number. If someone else enters another infraction from the same number, it is added to that page. The website will aggregate the results into an easy-to-understand list.
The issue of honesty. People will be capable of lying, and that’s fine. It’s possible to lie on many services, including Foursquare, where you can actually be rewarded with badges and points you don’t deserve. Foursquare still works despite this. It’s fun to use. That’s how I’d like this website to work.
The app. On that note, I think an app would be great for this. I would recommend not using it while driving, but it would allow people to enter infractions they see while not at home.
How this could help. First, a disclaimer. I don’t think it would be a good idea to attach actual names to these license plates online. The plate number itself would serve as the username. I also wouldn’t forward these infractions to the police. They can keep doing their own thing. I just think it may spur people on to do better if they know that they are being held accountable online. They may even realize they were making mistakes they didn’t know about.
I’d prefer to reward good drivers. Unfortunately, that’s a lot more difficult to notice or measure. What do you think would make this idea better?
Michael, cool idea! As the Internet has become more and more integrated into everyday life, people have begun publishing etiquette guides. Your brainstorm would help reinforce great etiquette.
I wonder who would sponsor such an undertaking. A non-profit? A new private company? A conglomerate of Facebook, Google, MySpace, Twitter, and other major social networking sites? You’d certainly have to get those players on board in order to make this effective…And I’d bet they’d be interested. What have you thought in regards to this question?
Honestly, I’m just throwing this idea out there for anyone to pick up and run with! Typically, a new private company would build out a prototype, raise money from investors, and once it’s going strong – figure out how to make money off of it. A private company would be ideal because they would more likely to take risks, and if people love it, a bigger company could buy it out. Facebook, Google, etc, offer plenty of ways to integrate into their services without actually being associated with them.
Does that answer your question? Thanks for asking!
Love the idea! I hope someone picks it up. Also gave me an idea for a plugin in browsers that would allow you to rate a site, that way sites that may need an update would be notified by their users.
Anyways. Love this idea! I would use this site for sure. I wonder how spam would be dealt with for the license plate site.
That would be a great plugin! That’s how the Apple app store works right now… and that’s a great system.
I guess I’m not sure how to make it spam-proof. Foursquare awards points for check-ins, and if you check in to a place too frequently, you get 0 points. Maybe a system like that would keep people from abusing it?