"Smart intersection" Seen as Lifesaver

MSNBC ^ | 6/25/03 | Associated Press

[Alberta's Child]

U.S. agency showcases alert system for inattentive drivers.

MCLEAN, Va., June 25 — Federal highway officials think they’ve found a way to prevent thousands of traffic accidents every year: "smart intersections" that warn drivers when they’re about to run a red light or smash into a stopped truck.

Government drivers demonstrated Tuesday just what the intersection of the future will be able to do.

A car speeds toward an intersection, about to collide with a van. Sensors spot the car as it approaches the red light and emit a signal to the car, which triggers a high-pitched beep and a red light on the dashboard that says, emphatically, "STOP."

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting "next generation" concept for the nation's roadways, including the first step toward interaction between the roadway and the motorist.

[Bogey78O]

TCAS for cars?

[1Old Pro]

Collision avoidance radar like aircraft have would be even better.

One problem, it would be so distracting that politicians would outlaw them.

[Alberta's Child]

What's TCAS?

[trebb]

which triggers a high-pitched beep and a red light on the dashboard that says, emphatically, "STOP."

And elderly occupant has a heart attack, stomps the gas and wipes out 23 cars.

[Ichneumon]

Sensors spot the car as it approaches the red light and emit a signal to the car, which triggers a high-pitched beep and a red light on the dashboard that says, emphatically, "STOP."

Why not just automatically trigger the brakes?

[dirtboy]

Interesting "next generation" concept for the nation's roadways, including the first step toward interaction between the roadway and the motorist.

And a first step towards having the government track motorists. Because this system would require a position transmitter in the vehicle.

[Alberta's Child]

Collision avoidance radar like aircraft have would be even better.

I seem to remember that Ford experimented with something like this back in the 1980s. The problem they had was that the warning device had to be very senstive because there are a lot more things at ground level to interfere with it than in the air -- it was so sensitive, though, that it would emit a warning even if something like a bunch of leaves blew across the road in front of the car.

[sparkomatic]

Gee, why not just emit some signal that slams on the brakes for you and then kills your engine?

[Bogey78O]

Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System


When two aircraft are approaching one another an alert is sent to each aircraft telling one to dive and the other to pull up.

It's a pretty clever device. Also it's one of the only things that allow you to ignore the air traffic controller. In Germany last year two planes collided because one listed to the TCAS while the other pilot listened to the ATC.

[1Old Pro]

Perhaps it would be cheaper and more effective to give professional driving courses to people and decrease insurance premiums for those who participate.

[Ichneumon]

And elderly occupant has a heart attack, stomps the gas and wipes out 23 cars.

The other day I went to grab a sandwich at my favorite mom&pop sandwich shop, and found that the place had just been wiped out by a little old lady who had hit her gas pedal instead of the brakes when she tried to park in front.

She took out the front plate glass window, the register counter nearest the window, the deli case behind the customer area, and the sandwich preparation tables behind *that*. Several people were injured, none seriously thank goodness.

There were several police cars and two news vans in the parking lot, and the little old lady was still there, with her car about to be taken away by a tow truck.

[curmudgeonII]

I have a spendid idea to prevent drivers from running a red light.
Why don't we have yellow, or amber, lights to warn drivers when the traffic light is about to tun red?

[Alberta's Child]

Why not just automatically trigger the brakes?

There's a very good reason for this -- and it's funny you should mention it. I was part of a team of engineers evaluating this system for General Motors and 3M a few years ago (we were working on an informal basis, so there is no issue of confidentiality here), and I was the only one who raised an objection to such a feature for this system. The technology exists to do this, but there are serious legal issues here -- once you have an external device like a road sign or transmitter taking over control of the vehicle, you will always expose the manufacturer of the device and the governing body for the roadway to lawsuits. Every person who is involved in an accident will immediately claim that "I didn't drive into that car -- the wheel turned on its own / the car stepped on the gas by itself / etc."

[curmudgeonII]

Turn rather than tun.

[Ichneumon]

Perhaps it would be cheaper and more effective to give professional driving courses to people and decrease insurance premiums for those who participate.

Cheaper, yes, but probably not more effective.

A "stop NOW, you idiot" alarm in a car would prevent a different class of accidents than the ones that a good driving course could address. (The former is caused by distraction, the latter by lack of education.)

[Sloth]

Why don't we have yellow, or amber, lights to warn drivers when the traffic light is about to tun red?

Do you have any idea how much infrastructure that would require? :)

[Alberta's Child]

And a first step towards having the government track motorists.

That threshold has already been crossed. Most new vehicles these days are equipped with a variation of a "black box" that records any number of vehicle and driving characteristics. The big issue is whether the information contained in a vehicle's "brain" should be accessible to the courts to help resolve civil lawsuits resulting from accidents.

[Lazamataz]

If I could sleep while the car drove itself to work, I would be happy commuting 4 hours a day.

[dirtboy]

If I could sleep while the car drove itself to work, I would be happy commuting 4 hours a day.

Considering how you drive, I thought you were already doing just that.