<story><title>Citizen uses OpenCV to track speeders near his home</title><url>http://www.cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/22908-locust-avenue-speeding/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>I like that idea but I do worry about it causing rear-end collisions.&lt;p&gt;In an ideal world drivers wouldn&amp;#x27;t speed and they also wouldn&amp;#x27;t tailgate, but in the world we currently occupy both are extremely common (even amongst law enforcement).&lt;p&gt;So while this would act to reduce speeding, the unpredictability may increase accidents and it is definitely going to reduce traffic flow.</text></item><item><author>gus_massa</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ll copy a very interesting comment by Anton Largiader &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cvilletomorrow.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;22908-locust-avenue-speeding&amp;#x2F;#comment-2489875608&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cvilletomorrow.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;22908-locust-aven...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;One very interesting approach I have seen overseas is a traffic light that turns red if you are speeding as you approach it. It&amp;#x27;s incredibly effective; instant feedback on your behavior, and immediate loss of any time you gained by speeding. No ticket, unless you run the light. Drivers quickly conclude they&amp;#x27;re better off by not speeding.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mikeash</author><text>Rear end collisions like this tend to be pretty benign. For example, one of the arguments against red light cameras is that they actually &lt;i&gt;increase&lt;/i&gt; the number of accidents. However, they also increase safety. How? Because while they increase the number of rear end collisions, they decrease the number of side impact collisions, which are much more deadly. Net result: more bent metal, less bent flesh.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;d also be surprised if speed-sensing lights really increased collisions much. They still go through a full yellow before turning red. They are only more unpredictable if you know the light&amp;#x27;s cycle time, watched it turn green, and are carefully timing it so you could otherwise predict it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Citizen uses OpenCV to track speeders near his home</title><url>http://www.cvilletomorrow.org/news/article/22908-locust-avenue-speeding/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Someone1234</author><text>I like that idea but I do worry about it causing rear-end collisions.&lt;p&gt;In an ideal world drivers wouldn&amp;#x27;t speed and they also wouldn&amp;#x27;t tailgate, but in the world we currently occupy both are extremely common (even amongst law enforcement).&lt;p&gt;So while this would act to reduce speeding, the unpredictability may increase accidents and it is definitely going to reduce traffic flow.</text></item><item><author>gus_massa</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ll copy a very interesting comment by Anton Largiader &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cvilletomorrow.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;22908-locust-avenue-speeding&amp;#x2F;#comment-2489875608&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.cvilletomorrow.org&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;article&amp;#x2F;22908-locust-aven...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;One very interesting approach I have seen overseas is a traffic light that turns red if you are speeding as you approach it. It&amp;#x27;s incredibly effective; instant feedback on your behavior, and immediate loss of any time you gained by speeding. No ticket, unless you run the light. Drivers quickly conclude they&amp;#x27;re better off by not speeding.&lt;/i&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>drzaiusapelord</author><text>&amp;gt;I like that idea but I do worry about it causing rear-end collisions.&lt;p&gt;Chicago had a pretty significant red light camera deployment about six or seven years ago. Drivers used to be okay with blowing through a red that was a yellow a moment before in the past. Now everyone slams on their brakes when they see a yellow.  According to time.com, &amp;quot;a 22% increase in injuries from rear-end accidents.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;So yes, you can expect more rear end collisions and injuries when traffic light enforcement automation breaks up traditional driving habits.&lt;p&gt;Arguably, its okay to speed. Say doing 50 in a 40 when there&amp;#x27;s no traffic, like late at night. Why do we need a system to enforce this? I wish there was more fuzzy logic applied to traffic systems. Say a peak hours vs non-peak hours speed limit. Longer yellows during rush hour when everyone is stressed and potentially distracted. Instead we get hard and fast rules for all conditions, which doesn&amp;#x27;t make much sense.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;time.com&amp;#x2F;3643077&amp;#x2F;red-light-cams-rear-end-collisions-chicago&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;time.com&amp;#x2F;3643077&amp;#x2F;red-light-cams-rear-end-collisions-c...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>