driving

Bringing the "wanted poster in the post office" concept into the 21st century, the FBI has begun using facial recognition software to identify fugitives on North Carolina highways. The software measures the biometric features of thousands of motorists' DMV photos, matching them against mugshots. When the face matches that of a known criminal, the authorities jump into action.

For long-distance trips, the seeing-eye dog might soon be replaced by the seeing-eye car. Researchers on Virginia Tech's Blind Driver Team, with funding from the National Federation of the Blind, might soon give blind people the ability to do something they never thought possible: drive. The prototype "car" is actually a buggy equipped with lasers that judge the surrounding terrain.

When I slipped behind the wheel of the traffic simulator at Israel's Ben Gurion University recently, it was less than two minutes before I was bumping into the virtual cars and swerving around pedestrians. Maneuvering through the tree-lined urban roads projected in dayglo colors on giant screens was tricky--and I wasn't even one of their hard-drinking or toking research subjects.

You shouldn't fall asleep at the wheel with this chin jabber on the job. Worn around the neck, it holds a sharp prong under the driver's chin. If his head nods, the point quickly awakens him. Invented by K. H. Liman, of Rye, N.Y., it has a rubber knob below the tip to prevent serious injury.

As the host of one of the oldest and most famous racing events in the world, Indiana has always been known for fast cars. For now, those cars are still stuck on the racetrack, but a new study in the journal Transportation Research Record claims the roads are no more dangerous when motorists drive at Andretti-like speeds, providing further data in support of an American autobahn.

Nearly 80 percent of all automobile crashes happen within three seconds of the driver having been distracted, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. That's distraction of any kind, from adjusting the radio, to drinking coffee, to using a cellphone; even to having a conversation with the person in the passenger seat. It seems fancy technology isn't necessary to take a driver's mind off the road.

Pulse pounding, you hit the brakes and crank the wheel, but it´s too late: The
car can´t overcome its own momentum, and you slam into the wall at 150. And
then?