Car traffic is a terrible thing, and as everyone knows one of the few antidotes to stalled traffic is a nice tune on the radio. Crank it up loud enough and the traffic disappears. And that includes the ambulance behind you rushing to get to a person struggling to stay alive. But, it’s hot, the air conditioner is on, the windows rolled up, the music is playing, and the whole road is full of folks like you. What does the ambulance do?
Well, in Ecuador the ambulance is equipped with an AM/FM radio transmitter and an antenna that can overpower the radio stations in its vicinity. The driver simply talks into a microphone, and anyone listening to the radio hears his voice instead. Check it out in action:
Of course AM/FM radio is still a major source of music and entertainment in Ecuador. In more developed regions of the world, people have been moving instead to a variety of digital sources, including satellite radio, smartphones preloaded with music, and streaming audio, so it’s not clear whether the analog radio based system would reach enough people in such places.
(hat tip: Gizmodo)