Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News

~ John W. Howell

 

photo released by Shaurya Jain (right)

Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.

These 2 Northern Virginia High School Students Just Got a $15,000 Grant to Use AI to Prevent Deer from Running into Cars

By Andy Corbley –

Every Virginian over 30 you could hope to meet will know someone who has collided with a deer in their car: the state is in the top ten nationwide for deer-related crashes.

These two high school seniors have just received a large grant to pursue their research into a device that detects cars and deer via artificially intelligent cameras and helps both avoid collisions.

Shaurya Jain and Anmol Karan from Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax County received $15,000 after presenting their prototype.

The money came from the Animal Welfare Institute as a part of the Christine Stevens Wildlife Award, leaving the two young men feeling “honored.”

“Not everyone would trust a bunch of high schoolers with this kind of money,” Jain told WTOP.

Positioned on the side of the road, if the device detects cars and deer in the vicinity, it emits high-frequency pulses and animal sounds to deter the deer from attempting to cross at that moment. If positioned in places with high deer traffic, the boys hope it will stop them from impacting traffic, especially at night when visibility is low and deer are most active.

In 2022, 6,100 traffic collisions, or 15% of the total number in the state, involved deer, an incident ratio that left 500 people injured.

Mr. Jain says he was inspired by his religion, Jainism—which holds all animals to be sacred and carriers of souls, while Karan was moved to action by the news that his uncle had collided with a deer in his car at night in Loudon County and was severely injured.

“Seeing him caused me to just feel that there probably is some type of method that we can use to keep on these roads to prevent such accidents from happening,” said Karan.

The Virginia Transportation Research Council applauded the students’ idea and wrote letters of encouragement to them. They are still collecting data on deer injuries and hope to start roadside testing soon.

The good news in this article is that two young men felt strong enough about a problem to do something about it. Today’s JohnKu continues the theme of embracing people who are called to action. I hope you have a terrific weekend.

Action by John W. Howell © 2024

A problem exists,

Some would simply ignore it . . .

Others take action.

61 thoughts on “Friday JohnKu – AKA – TGIF – Fri-Yay/Good News”

  8. Your JohnKu is most appropriate today. With all the negative news around, it’s wonderful that these two bright and caring young men are working to solve (at least partially) a problem that can be fatal for humans and deer. I hope it works.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. We sure hope their research helps the deer out. When we last drove to Texas we had a deer run into us and boy it left quite a bit of damage. Plus it never ends well for them after they’ve been hit. Thanks for sharing a feel good story this week. We especially needed it.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I love seeing the younger generation trying to make the world a better place! I wonder if their project would also deter moose, which cause accident fatalities because of their size.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Thank you for sharing this, John. It’s wonderful to learn of people who work to make a difference. These two young men deserve plenty of cheers. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏻

    Liked by 1 person

  15. A terrific weekend to you too, John and thank you for the feel-good stories. My brother and I clipped a deer in the middle of the night, outside of Austin a few years ago. Scary and sad. Best wishes to those young men!

    Liked by 1 person

  17. Timely article. My son just had a deer run into his car, in Maryland. We had to look up the law to see what was required on his part. Like you said, turns out it’s pretty common.

    Liked by 1 person

  18. This is a huge problem where we live. I’ve had a couple of close calls and several friends who weren’t so lucky.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. That is great news and it can maybe be applied to moose too. My brother colided with a moose in northern Sweden. His car was totaled and the crumbled car roof cover his one year old daughter Greta’s car seat. Luckily she was uninjured and no one was injured. However, wildlife collisions are a big problem in northen Sweden as well as large parts of the United States. I can just imagine Colorado.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Two things I love about this story:

    The young men who are serious-minded and care about both the human and deer casualties and want to do something to help.

    Using AI, which I have a basic mistrust of, for something so positive!

    Thanks, John, for sharing this story!

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Great idea!

    Fab JohnKu.

    This is a great use of AI. Goes to show there are a lot of good intentions out there.

    I always wonder about those whose minds jump to nefariousness when a new tech is released.

    OX OX OX OX

    Liked by 1 person

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