Rideability surveyor

The rideability surveyor monitors road quality empirically using a sensor installed identically on the front bumper of all participating vehicles. The sensor would measure the textural abnormalities in roads, store its findings in a DOT cloud database, and allow DOT to better prioritize repairs and determine the decay pattern of abnormalities without field study. Such a system is used for testing new roads, although existing roads are often where the survey is needed. Time-lapsed bridge transition surveys could provide preemptive warning of a collapse.  Storing the data collectively would provide a more accurate picture of road quality in an area, and provide an accurate picture of needs for budget allocation purposes. Once all vehicles were equipped with this device, real-time car count surveys could be conducted, and determine the most convenient time for repairs to be made. Repair costs could be determined more accurately, ascribed to the specific users of the road, and voted on by the entire group affected by the costs. The costs per vehicle could be calculated based on vehicle type and the number of times the vehicle used the particular road. Thus, those who used the road less would pay less, and so forth.