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> red light running This is actually one of the interesting cases. Some studies indicate that while red light cameras reduce the number of red light running,

by Verdex 3y ago

> red light running This is actually one of the interesting cases. Some studies indicate that while red light cameras reduce the number of red light running, it also increases the amount of rear end collisions. Because people are afraid of getting a ticket they slam on their brakes. Similarly, (iirc) there was some controversy about certain areas with red light cameras adjusting the length of yellow lights not to maximize safety, but to maximize ticket revenue. At the very least the wiki link includes: > There is also concern that the international standard formula used for setting the length of the yellow phase ignores the laws of physics, which may cause drivers to inadvertently run the red phase. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_light_camera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_light_camera I don't think running red lights or otherwise driving recklessly is somehow our right or a good thing. However, there are side effects to these things and they don't necessarily make things universally better.

xethos 3y ago
> Some studies indicate that while red light cameras reduce the number of red light running, it also increases the amount of rear end collisions. Because people are afraid of getting a ticket they slam on their brakes. Sounds like some motorists received an expensive lesson on the topic of "What is a safe following distance, and why does it matter"
diydsp 3y ago
> [...] people are afraid of getting a ticket they slam on their brakes. There should be some kind of warning before the red light comes on. I've got it! A cell phone app. Whenever you're driving: the app sends your coordinates to the cloud, and every traffic light is also linked in via dirt-cheap IoT. Then, at some point between the light being green and red, the user is warned through a tweet, text, or email message that the red light will go on soon! They can navigate away from the video they were watching while driving, click through the terms of the website, adjust for their privacy preferences, take advantage of any offers that might pop up, and still find out a few seconds before the light turns red! And then: because we know they'll be stopped at the light and for how long, we can show them a short video offering them valuable products and services right near where they are located! We can do this! Who's in?
xnx 3y ago
Good notes. I see a lot of these as symptoms of adjustment pains. Once a driver's expectation is that they will get a ticket, they will treat yellow lights as designed. They a notification to slow down, not speed up.
sixstringtheory 3y ago
It seems obvious to me that running red lights has more severe risks than people stopping more abruptly at yellow lights. And since it's not illegal to slow down for a yellow light, but it is to tailgate someone, well... just don't do that, then. There are plenty of ways to make it more obvious how long the yellow light will last and whether you can make it through before it turns red. The all-red grace period that wiki article mentions also makes sense to me. I would say it is better to trade red-light-running collisions for yellow-light-stopping collisions. Just because you can't eliminate all collisions doesn't mean you do nothing. That's letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
bluecalm 3y ago
Adding timers to red lights seems like an obvious idea. You can even put them in the middle instead of yellow :)

by Verdex 3y ago

xethos 3y ago

> Some studies indicate that while red light cameras reduce the number of red light running, it also increases the amount of rear end collisions. Because people are afraid of getting a ticket they slam on their brakes. Sounds like some motorists received an expensive lesson on the topic of "What is a safe following distance, and why does it matter"

diydsp 3y ago

> [...] people are afraid of getting a ticket they slam on their brakes. There should be some kind of warning before the red light comes on. I've got it! A cell phone app. Whenever you're driving: the app sends your coordinates to the cloud, and every traffic light is also linked in via dirt-cheap IoT. Then, at some point between the light being green and red, the user is warned through a tweet, text, or email message that the red light will go on soon! They can navigate away from the video they were watching while driving, click through the terms of the website, adjust for their privacy preferences, take advantage of any offers that might pop up, and still find out a few seconds before the light turns red! And then: because we know they'll be stopped at the light and for how long, we can show them a short video offering them valuable products and services right near where they are located! We can do this! Who's in?

xnx 3y ago

Good notes. I see a lot of these as symptoms of adjustment pains. Once a driver's expectation is that they will get a ticket, they will treat yellow lights as designed. They a notification to slow down, not speed up.

sixstringtheory 3y ago

It seems obvious to me that running red lights has more severe risks than people stopping more abruptly at yellow lights. And since it's not illegal to slow down for a yellow light, but it is to tailgate someone, well... just don't do that, then. There are plenty of ways to make it more obvious how long the yellow light will last and whether you can make it through before it turns red. The all-red grace period that wiki article mentions also makes sense to me. I would say it is better to trade red-light-running collisions for yellow-light-stopping collisions. Just because you can't eliminate all collisions doesn't mean you do nothing. That's letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

bluecalm 3y ago

Adding timers to red lights seems like an obvious idea. You can even put them in the middle instead of yellow :)