Neal Skelton's Christmas message

摘要

For this year's Christmas article I have selected several bizarre newspaper reports where there is potential for intelligent transportation technologies to provide some assistance. The first comes from Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, where a new game, known as 'Russian road roulette', is played every night at intersections. As many as five people have been killed and many injured since the craze took hold in the summer. According to the rules, participants must drive at top speed and not apply their brakes. Fifty or so drivers, most of them in their twenties and driving sports utility vehicles, gather at midnight at designated meeting points in the north of the city. Members are informed via texts and the gambling starts; however to win at Russian road roulette, the driver must jump red lights at busy crossroads at full speed and not collide with another vehicle, pedestrian or leave the road.