4 ms·
That's just fair - pedestrians aren't detected either
by ankka 8y ago
That's just fair - pedestrians aren't detected either
- jessriedel 8y agoIf one set of people are waiting unnecessarily, we should make another set do so also?
- flukus 8y agoIf the pedestrian was about to get green (or blue) but a car was detected and the pedestrian was forced to wait then that's not fair is it? We already prioritize cars enough, pedestrians usually have to press a button to trigger the crossing so they're always waiting but cars don't get punished for getting to the lights a second after the sequence starts.
- ankka 8y agoExcactly. Close to where I live there are a couple of funny examples: In one place the lights are red by default for everyone. Cars are detected from 100m or so away, so they barely need to slow down. Pedestrians need to press a button and usually wait for a while. At another crossing the lights are green by default for the bigger road. A sideroad has car-detection that is ofter rather quick. Pedestrians and cyclists need to press a button and usually wait for a long time. Just because you don't sit in a car it's ok to wait that much longer.
- jessriedel 8y agoA random pedestrian is just as likely to be helped by a light change as hurt by it. You provide an excellent example of motivated zero-sum reasoning though!
- labster 8y agoPedestrians have a button to press to let the signal know they exist. Until we invent car-hands, that seems equivalent enough.
- jacoblambda 8y agoNot strictly true, a number of different traffic systems detect cars using detection methods such as cameras and radar/microwave.
- laurieg 8y agoIn Japan there is sometimes a button for cyclists/motorcycles to push to get the lughts to change. I assumed this was because there is a sensor in the road to detect cars, but now I'm not so sure.
- rincebrain 8y agoIn a number of those systems, the buttons are a placebo that are wired to nothing. [1] [2] [1] - https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/us/placebo-buttons-elevators-crosswalks.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/us/placebo-buttons-elevat... [2] - https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/nyregion/for-exercise-in-new-york-futility-push-button.html https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/27/nyregion/for-exercise-in-...
- kalleboo 8y agoActually in Japan pedestrian sensors have been deployed. https://www.kyosan.co.jp/product/traffic04.html https://www.kyosan.co.jp/product/traffic04.html