Okay, I'm not totally crazy yet... but well on my way...

This is one of those posts/ideas that I think someone must have come up with before me but I haven't seen it yet (including a search of Metafilter, and a search of Technorati.) It's also one of those ideas that likely has legal and safety implications that I just haven't thought through yet, mainly because I am busily enamoured with the concept and don't want the bubble to burst quite yet.

It is also a product of having, at times, way too much idle time on my hands (mostly in the form of driving across the prairie between universities and meetings and so on... so the mind does tend to wander.)

Here's the chain of thoughts as they evolved on one of those many long drives in weather like this:
Cadillac and BMW have radar (or radar-like?) options that show a heads-up display for night driving. I don't drive either one of those brands (mine's a Mazda Protege 5... worthy of its own blog posting), and really... I am a university professor, not a professional athlete.

So, what about a "poor man's" road radar-like accessory? There's got to be a way to rig something like that so when driving in conditions like those seen in this picture, one doesn't plow into a deer or antelope or oil worker wandering across the block.

Enter the fish finder. These simple devices appear to be able to find fish (no kidding!), or at least find stuff floating under water and give it a depth reading up to - get this - 800 ft! It sends out a sonar signal (how cool would that be? -Scottish brogue: "Give me a ping Vasily. One ping only") and what you get back (presuming you are pointing this thing downwards, in the water, from your fishing boat) is the location of underwater stuff including, presumably, fish... even the ones "hidden in weed beds."

So... (can you see this coming?) what if you mounted one of these on the dash, not unlike a Tom Tom, and mounted the emitter on the grille? Presto! A sonar-road-object avoidance system!

I'm still in denial about a downside to this, except to consider that sonar may not be the best option in the air (as opposed to water) and may not work when the sensor is moving forward "into" its signal (can you say "Doppler"?)

However, there are a number of options available including the higher-end unit that promises up to 600ft range, the high-end t.v. camera model that (well, you get the idea), and the super fighter-jet model that seems to promise some directionality as a function. Or, for simplicity's sake, and for portability because you never know when you might need to navigate a dark hallway or a smoke-filled building, the wrist watch model (limited to 100 ft.).

Paul