Tin Man Traffic Cop

The World Health Organization has estimated that the mortality rate for the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the fourth highest in the world.  DR Congo leads both Thailand, Malawi and Liberia with more the three times the number of traffic deaths as the United States.  

                                                                                            photo - Grist.org

Beginning in the city of Kinshasa an enterprising attempt to manage the traffic and the carnage has begun in recent years by deploying very large robots to direct vehicles and pedestrians.  They are really quite intimidating – which may be why they are succeeding.  Equipped with red-and-green lights and movable arms these tin men bring order out of chaos.  If the arms are outstretched as they face you it signals halt.  It the arms are pointed towards and away from you it signals proceed.  Aside from the intimidation factor some suggest that the robots are more intuitive than the ubiquitous traffic signal.  

 

Some of the robots come with speakers allowing them to shout commands while others have cameras situated in their eyes, chest or crotch.  Ostensibly, the cameras are for photographing traffic violations as a mechanism for issuing citations and raising needed revenue for the impoverished African nation.  Alas, there is no workable centralized electronic database for vehicle registrations.  

 

The robots are manufactured by Therese Izay’s company - Women’s Tech - which designs, manufactures and maintains the droids.   They sell for $18,000 to $20,000 apiece and Mrs. Izay-Kirongozi would like to market them to other municipalities in Congo.

 

It is instructive to note that unlike their poorly-paid human counterparts the robots do not shake-down motorists for bribes.

Raising a toast to a Congolese women's engineering cooperative for bringing this to market...