Cow Alarms for Your Cars: Yes, Really!

Cow Alarms for Cars

It’s no secret that, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), traffic crashes are the leading cause of death of people between the ages of 15 and 29 years old.

Add to this horrifying statistic … cows.

That’s right, those pesky bovines who refuse to move out of the way of oncoming traffic. Yes, this is a real concern, especially in India where a large number of car crashes involve drivers smashing into cows who seem to enjoy loitering in public streets.

For those of you not familiar with these walking sirloins, well, they move when they’re good and ready.

Cow Alarms for your Cars

As a result of the many traffic crashes in India, Sachin Sharma and Dharmesh Shah of the Department of Electronics & Communication, at Gujarat Technological University, in Ahmedabad, India, developed an alert system for cars that detects the presence of live bovine roadway obstacles (cows in the road).

When an animal is detected, the alarm lets the driver know, in advance, to apply brakes. This all occurs before the driver sees the hazard.

Obviously, though, cows in India do not understand basic signage, like the posted instructions we have here in the U.S. If so, one look and they’d know to remain on the sidewalks or shoulder.

Dumb cows …

Cow Alarms

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5 replies
  1. Kris
    Kris says:

    I once saw a moose on the side of the road with its neck clearly broken. I can’t imagine what happened to the vehicle that hit it.

  2. Kathy Crouch
    Kathy Crouch says:

    In Texas it’s deer, cows, pigs, armadillos, racoons and skunks. I saw a cow lying on the side of the road once. I wondered about the vehicle that hit it. I see a lot of deer that have been hit.
    One time we stopped to avoid hitting the stupid animal, then it turned and went back the way it came, we started off and it flew back at us and rammed the front fender of our car. We were like WTH??

  3. Lee Lofland
    Lee Lofland says:

    Please don’t shoot the messenger, guys. I know nothing about India. Apparently, though, these scientists who live and work there thought there was a problem – Sachin Sharma and Dharmesh Shah of the Department of Electronics & Communication, at Gujarat Technological University, in Ahmedabad, India.

  4. ann bennett
    ann bennett says:

    It would be deer here. The deer is startled and doesn’t know what to do. Well run out into the road. Or the deer’s strategy of crossing the road. Run fast and maybe nothing will hit you.

    People have to drive defensively and pay attention.

  5. Gina
    Gina says:

    When I was in India, cows weren’t the only animals I saw in the road and, on a bus trip that covered hundreds of miles, I saw no evidence of any cattle carnage. In fact, other than one dead dog that may or may not have been hit by a vehicle, I saw no roadkill whatsoever. It seemed as if most drivers were very good at avoiding hitting things.

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