Monday, November 23, 2009

Mr Roadshow with another home run

Gary Richards in today's Merc


Q I hate the use of cameras at intersections to catch red-light runners. I know this is a problem, but Big Brother watching is not the answer.

M. Davis

Fremont

A Then what is? There are not enough traffic cops to curb this epidemic. Safety studies indicate one in three crashes at busy intersections is caused by a driver running a red light. In Santa Clara County, such wrecks lead to about 1,200 injuries a year, and 96 percent of Americans fear being hit by a red-light runner. In some cities, cameras are credited with reducing crashes by 20 percent. They aren't perfect, but get rid of cameras? We need more of them.


Awesome.

HT Cyclelicious

5 comments:

Yokota Fritz said...

But bikes are the greatest hazard *sigh*

When my co-worker's daughter was killed by that red-light running maniac going 70 mph the other week, guess what people in the hallways talked about? Yep, the idiots on bikes running red lights. BIZARRE.

djconnel said...

Then we need to get The People to accept automated speed limit enforcement. That'd tip the civil liberties fanatics into a frothy rage.

BikeBoy said...

I want automated cell-phone / texting enforcement!

Hm, what if rather than the public agencies setting up automated enforcement, *volunteers* set up speed/red-light cameras with automated license plate forwarding to the police? This would at least provide useful and documented statistics to help direct enforcement efforts.

murphstahoe said...

Amusing but true - there is a software product called "zoom safer" that disables a phone at speeds of 10 MPH or greater. I assumed there was already a device for that called "your brain". Unfortunately "zoom safer" has the same design as "your brain".

It can be turned off.

Matt Howard said...

In response to Murphstahoe and regarding ZoomSafer....

ZoomSafer is software that actively encourages safe and legal use of mobile phones while driving.

ZoomSafer detects when you are moving faster than 10mph and automatically activates and applies safe driving policies.

It does include the ability to exit as passenger so you can use your phone if you were on a bus or in a taxi.

The software itself is fully configurable -- and you can remove the "exit as a passenger" option if you prefer.

Parents and corporations might want this. Individuals and prosumers probably don't. It's up to you.

Matt Howard