My car has a terrible suspension so I hate speed bumps. Even people with decent cars probably feel the same way. Wouldn't it be awesome if the speed bump flattened when you were driving slow?

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You may recall an incident on the news last summer involving a bridge collapse in Minnesota that claimed 13 lives and injured 145 others. State officials were quick to draw up plans for a replacement—but this time they wanted strict safety measures in place to prevent another disaster from occurring in the future. Contractors delivered in only 11 months and today the bridge was opened up for traffic. The $US234 million bridge is wired with hundreds of sensors that collect data on everything from how the bridge handles loads and vibrations to corrosion levels from road salt—and its redundant design ensures that the bridge will stay up even if a section should fail.

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While the city of Philadelphia is content with using 3D images to deter speeders, the authorities in ShanXi province, China are taking a far more drastic approach. They built a 100 foot (30 metres) long, 2 foot (60cm) high, winding speed block smack dab in the middle of the Jing Zhuang highway. Sure, it scratches up cars, looks hideous and causes massive traffic jams, but hey--by screwing everyone it manages to screw the speeders. Suck on that leadfoot!

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Terry Kenney's Dragon Power Station prototype works by harnessing the kinetic energy of trucks passing over plates buried in the road and turning that energy into electricity. The system he's got set up now in the Port of Oakland, with 2,500 trucks passing over it in a day, is enough to power 1,750 homes. It's a very interesting concept that can be extended to busier streets, harnessing a little bit of the energy that would otherwise be lost.

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