China begins using lasers to stop drivers falling asleep on roads
Chinese authorities are taking innovative action to make their roads safer and stop drivers from falling asleep at the wheel.
A post on X captioned: 'China is testing lasers to prevent drivers falling asleep on highways,' shows bright colourful lights beaming above vehicles on the highway, while recorded by one driver.
Called 'high speed anti-fatigue laser lights,' the bright displays are meant to help night-time drivers stay alert while on the road, as an alternative to pulling over and resting.
Advert
The lasers have been mounted to freeway signs along the 1600 km stretch of the Qingdao–Yinchuan Expressway, connecting the coastal city of Qingdao to Ningxia in north-central China.
'These truck drivers never rest because the cost of highway’s toll is really expensive,' the post read.
Another X user by the name of ScienceGirl, who regularly shares new innovative technologies, explained the driver behind the video: 'Mr. Li, the person behind the camera, reported that these laser lights designed to combat fatigue quickly revitalized him and reduced his exhaustion during a prolonged nighttime.'
The disco-looking lasers aim to catch the attention of sleepy drivers and stop them from drifting off, reducing the risk of an accident occurring, in a very similar way to shining a bright light in someone's eye, or several even.
The colours can be seen to alternate between red, purple, blue, and green light beams projected across the sky, resembles something out of Mario Kart's Rainbow Road map.
However, in response to the viral video that's been watched over 63 million times, some individuals believe the idea is more comedic 'highway entertainment' than anything with practicality.
One person responded: 'Who’s genius idea is it to blind the drivers? Congrats, those who aren’t sleepy are now disoriented.'
Whereas, others are uncertain whether it's actually effective at suppressing sleepiness or just increasing distractions for the driver.
Another wrote: 'I would guess it probably does reduce sleeping accidents. but I would also bet that it increases distraction accidents more than it helps with sleeping.'
Additionally, another person commented: 'That is disorienting. I have driven a manual all my life (still have my 2005 BMW M3) and that will cause more accidents than what they are intended to solve.'
Other people are worried about the effect the constant flashing lights will have on those with photosensitive epilepsy, with one person responding: 'Erm what about people with epilepsy.' Alongside the concern of such harsh lighting for individuals experiencing astigmatism.