Who: Everyday drivers and pedestrians.
What: Become witnesses of reckless driving.
Why: It's impossible to have officers at every corner.
Tests:
Who: It can be expanded to everyone. Every single person that sees a road on their everyday life is prone to be a witness of such actions.
What: The boundaries of the need would stop at the reckless driving that is seen by an officer and being brought into justice. In that case, the need would've been met.
Why: Everyone that sees an unfair action notices what should've happened to the perpetrator of the unlawful action. It is so common to see this that some people see it as "normal" that reckless drivers get away with everything when no police officers are present.
Interviews:
1. In this interview, this young high school student who is not old enough to be driving yet has seen the same problem I proposed. As a passenger to his parent's car, he sees risky maneuvers from people that are putting constantly the life of his parents in danger. He argues with the question "what kind of repercussions do you see on those reckless drivers?", that more often than not, they get away with what they do.
2. This interview was very emotional, as a 20-year-old college student told me her family story during the question "what kind of repercussions do you see on the reckless drivers?". She answered that she saw no repercussions at all. Her story talks about her older brother who died in a car accident when she was a kid, the reckless driver did a hit-and-run and was never found since there was no other witness around to confirm the car's color or plate.
3. In this interview, I decided to ask someone with more experience. A 46-year-old professor in FIU has to commute for an hour every day, he says that there's is not a day that goes by that he doesn't see someone doing irresponsible maneuvers. He told an anecdote that once a female fireman rear-ended him while exiting the Florida Turnpike, she was tailgating him at a high speed and when the time to break came, she didn't. No police officers present, the woman argued she had to go to work and she'll pay later. She told him lies to get away with the hit and gave fake information to the gentlemen, he never heard of her again.
4. This interview showed some kind of indifference since the interviewed is a reckless driver. I personally have been a passenger of this person and this is the case were you doubt how he got the license in the first place. He mucks the questions as he admits that he likes to drive fast, he argues that sometimes people are too slow for him so he has to pass over "snail-like" drivers.
5. This interview is also tragic, since its a mother who lost her daughter. She was expecting her to arrive since it was a long weekend, so her daughter was coming down from UCF with three other friends. They had an accident when the traffic slowed down to 20 mph and got rear-ended by a car who wasn't paying attention to the road, her daughter and her friend who was sitting in the back died.
The mother argued that it only takes one second of the road to cause something terrible, that's why is dangerous to let recklessness go unnoticed.
Findings:
Before these interviews, I knew this is an important need for everyone. But now, I know that it is urgent to address this need with some kind of solution. How are people ok with the number of accidents on the road, how is it possible that is more dangerous to drive than to do more dangerous activities like flying.
Hi Juan,
ReplyDeleteAs an everyday driver, I find this opportunity to be very bothersome. Every day accidents occur because people are not driving in an orderly manner. Your fifth interview was very heart touching to read. Losing a family member because somebody else was not paying attention to the road is something I wouldn't wish on anyone. I think you did a great job with your interviews. They were very detailed and very informational. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Juan!
ReplyDeleteI see this opportunity as very complex. Each day people get away with reckless driving and others don't as you mention. It is all about timing. I believe one way you can take on and tackle this opportunity is by finding ways to implement cameras in many areas. I believe the department of transportation should serve as your target audience. There at cameras at more stop lights and intersections than others so I believe more cameras that catch reckless drivers on the go could serve as a cure for this. Systems in place can determine what cars exhibit reckless driving and vehicle owners can face penalties through direct mail. This is just an idea. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Juan,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the opportunity you have addressed and it is something that must be taken care of as soon as possible. Reckless driving is not only dangerous to the driver of the car but everyone else in their path which in some cases can be large numbers of people. Even though you can't put an officer at every corner, you can still put out more live traffic cameras so they can observe more space on the street in a more timely manner. You could also do a reckless driving report from witnesses so cops can be aware of it approaching the next checkpoint.
Hey Juan,
ReplyDeleteThis is a powerful post with an extremely important topic. Your interviews also seemed to reinforce the notion that there is an opportunity present. However, you should have asked each person you interviewed their opinion on how to fix this problem, while also sharing some of your ideas on how to fix it as well. With that information, you would have been in a better position to find a solution to the problem, rather than simply confirm that the problem exists. You're on a good start nonetheless, stay on that path.
Hi Juan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing this every day topic into light! The amount of times I witness illegal driving on the roads is crazy especially when people run red lights. It is said that in your first interview the high schooler mentions "they most almost always get away with it." It's unfortunate that every one is not accountable for breaking the law because sometimes it does end in death.
I think that reckless driving is a very serious issue that absolutely should be addressed. Your interviews were touching and only further proved your point of how serious this is. With that being said, I think this will be a very difficult opportunity to exploit. Reckless driving happens for such a wide variety of reasons that it would be almost impossible to come up with a single solution that would prevent them all. If I were you, I would pinpoint one or two causes or reckless driving and focus your business opportunity on that. I also think it wouldn't hurt to have asked your interviewees or even conduct a few more interviews to find out how other people think you should solve this issue.
ReplyDelete