Traffic accidents account for a huge number of preventable fatalities all over the world. But in Argentina, that number is unbelievably high, with the shocking statistic of one human life per hour lost to car crashes and other traffic accidents.
In part, this is caused by a proliferation of single-lane highways. Because a large number of these heavily traveled roadways don’t differentiate between a passing lane and a traveling lane, many drivers find themselves engaging in the roulette of darting into the oncoming lane as an attempt to circumnavigate large, slow-moving vehicles like eighteen-wheelers.
Unfortunately, people who attempt this move often end up injured or worse. Most tales of highway drama are not as adorable as this renegade cow, and most victims of car accidents don't get nearly as lucky as this once-comatose Australian truck driver.
While this might sound like reckless driving, it’s often the only way to prevent major traffic jams snarling behind large and unwieldy vehicles. Unfortunately, the massive infrastructural changes required to expand Argentina’s existing highways would take such a long time to complete that they wouldn’t make any really difference to drivers risking life and limb today.
Instead, technology giant Samsung came up with a brilliant stop-gap solution. They equipped all of their large box trucks with a camera on the front to look into oncoming traffic, and four weatherproof screens on the back to give drivers behind them the ability to see what’s happening in the other lane. The camera even has a nighttime mode to aid motorists traveling on the poorly lit roads at night!
Using this system, drivers are able to make informed decisions about whether to risk passing or not. If this system was adopted by every large vehicle in Argentina, can you imagine how many lives it might save?
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