4 ms·

I think there is a middle ground. Apps could announce the upcoming railroad crossing just like they do with a left/right turn. Somewhat of a silly example, but

by why-el 7y ago

I think there is a middle ground. Apps could announce the upcoming railroad crossing just like they do with a left/right turn. Somewhat of a silly example, but if there is a river at the end of a road and your only option is a left or a right, the app will not help stop you for driving the car into the river, but the instruction to go right or left does (albeit accidentally) help you avoid that. I don't see why it won't do the same with rail crossings. Although you should focus on road signs more than you do the app, there could be a dangerous situation in which the app says "make a left turn at the light", but before reaching the light there is a railroad crossing. Of course you need to stop at that, but the app can enhance the situation but treating it like another instruction. I see no problem here but an overall safety enhancement.

abdullahkhalids 7y ago
> Apps could announce the upcoming railroad crossing This can have the potential effect that people expect the apps to always announce a crossing. So when the app fails to announce for whatever reason, people go through the crossing and get hurt.
bskap 7y ago
Ok, but why do that for railroad crossings and not any other type of dangerous crossing? Should we have these apps announce every stop sign, traffic light, and uncontrolled intersection you travel through for safety reasons?
- Arnt 7y ago
  The list is much longer. You're driving past a kindergarten; watch out for children. You're driving past a school. You're approaching an area with many users logged into Google so watch out for pedestrians. You're crossing a bridge. You're passing a point with an unusually large number of accidents in the past. If that isn't to become some sort of text-to-speech database dump about the area, there has to be a good theory of the conditions for what's worthwhile. And I sense that the natural conditions are the same as the conditions for putting up warning signs, reducing the speed limit, etc.

by why-el 7y ago

abdullahkhalids 7y ago

> Apps could announce the upcoming railroad crossing This can have the potential effect that people expect the apps to always announce a crossing. So when the app fails to announce for whatever reason, people go through the crossing and get hurt.

bskap 7y ago

Ok, but why do that for railroad crossings and not any other type of dangerous crossing? Should we have these apps announce every stop sign, traffic light, and uncontrolled intersection you travel through for safety reasons?

Arnt 7y ago
The list is much longer. You're driving past a kindergarten; watch out for children. You're driving past a school. You're approaching an area with many users logged into Google so watch out for pedestrians. You're crossing a bridge. You're passing a point with an unusually large number of accidents in the past. If that isn't to become some sort of text-to-speech database dump about the area, there has to be a good theory of the conditions for what's worthwhile. And I sense that the natural conditions are the same as the conditions for putting up warning signs, reducing the speed limit, etc.