Cycling UK Forum

A device has been produced claimed to be capable of stopping motor vehicles by using an electronic signal.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25197786

Although they seem to be marketing it to police as a way of stopping vehicles whose drivers might prefer a chase, IMO it might be useful for the automatic enforcement of traffic lights:once a vehicle had been stopped the driver would probably be lynched by those caught in the subsequent tailback.

Just like cameras, not much use against cyclists.

Bit stuffed if the car they are trying to stop has carburettors...

honesty wrote:Bit stuffed if the car they are trying to stop has carburettors...

I presume that's the point being made in the article about 1960's Landrovers.

thirdcrank wrote:

honesty wrote:Bit stuffed if the car they are trying to stop has carburettors...

I presume that's the point being made in the article about 1960's Landrovers.

I got one of those

Will it stop diesels?

At least it won't have any effect on cyclists . Though I suppose it might take out their computer, cadence meter, satnav, and headphones...

Does anyone else remember the 1980s American movie The Day After, which depicts the USA suffering a nuclear armageddon? I can't help remembering that the first major effect that ordinary US citizens feel, is when an EMP comes along and takes out every car on the road simultaneously. After that utter catastrophe, I feel that the actual nuclear bomb blasts come as a bit of anticlimax....

I always dreamt of one of these. I imagined carrying it around in the saddlebag and stopping all vehicles around me.

Is the thing about the captured Russian Mig fighter using mini valves in its electronics an urban myth? The idea being that it was not primitive, but resistant to the EMP of a nuclear bomb.

Ah yes. Nuclear bombs. Live in a Faraday cage for protection against EMP, whitewash your windows to protect against flash, and then you should be totally OK so long as you've installed enough sandbags to cope with the blast. Ooops. Nearly forgot the fallout.

661-Pete wrote:Will it stop diesels?

At least it won't have any effect on cyclists . Though I suppose it might take out their computer, cadence meter, satnav, and headphones...

Surely once it takes out the GPS device of a speeding cyclist they'll slow down, as they'll no longer be recording that Strava segment!

Would (typed will by mistake) Would the EMP take out those new fangled electric dreailleurs? There is an opportunity for shenanigans in the TdeF.

easyroller wrote:Surely once it takes out the GPS device of a speeding cyclist they'll slow down, as they'll no longer be recording that Strava segment!

Ah yes - forgot about Strava*. Not a word that trips easily off my tongue, I'm afraid....

*Yes I did look it up - a while ago.

There have been a number of these devices using various forms of electro magnetic pulses

The problem has always been the damage to the vehicle .

In the US there was one where the pulse "fried" the circuitry controlling the energy stopping the car.

Then came the issue of insurance.....

The damage wasn't covered as it was a deliberate act and decision to damage the vehicle by the Police, so the vehicle owner then had to sue the Police to cover the cost for repairs

This meant that its use was unsustainable financially

This is a far more effective way to stop a car:

Interesting that the BMW driver appears to have overtaken the Q and then cuts in at the last moment!

garybaldy wrote:Interesting that the BMW driver appears to have overtaken the Q and then cuts in at the last moment!

Normal.

But it didn't indicate either.

"The firm added that it did not believe the RF Safe-Stop posed any risk to people using a pacemaker."

Not overly reassuring for those folk who have a pacemaker fitted.....