Stoplights to Mete Out Punishment?

gilrain writes "The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that traffic engineers have created a stoplight that deals with speeding. According to the article, 'It senses when a speeder is approaching and metes out swift punishment. It doesn't write a ticket. It immediately turns from green to yellow to red.' This is not just a prototype: it is in use now at an intersection in the Bay Area. Does stopping speeders before others serve a purpose other than petty revenge? Is it even safe to change expected stoplight patterns, especially for drivers in a hurry?"

Comments

Re:great!

[sTalking_Goat]

I swear to god I ran this stoplight two nights ago. I thought it changed fast. Those bastards. Now I have three hundred dollar moving violation. well I'm defintely fighting it now.

Re:Timing it right could be tricky

[Marvelicious]

This looks to me like another very bad idea. I can see this CAUSING traffic problems, not eliminating them.

For instance:
In my personal experience driving through the Vancouver WA area into Portland OR on I5 at aprox 7:30a.m. I have noticed some things:

1: Reaching what seems to be the "bad stretch" for traffic at the same time can result in a ten minute drive through or a one hour drive through.

2: On mornings that take ten to twenty minutes, I see no cops enforcing speeding, seatbelt tickets, carpool lane violators, etc...

3: Mornings that take more than twenty minutes have cops enforcing those "major offenses." In fact, the more cops I see, the longer it takes to get to the Oregon side of the I5 bridge.

The only thing I can conclude is that the Washington State Police are screwing up the morning commute! If human beings can cause such a clusterfuck, imagine what an automated system (with no understanding of traffic backing up, etc...) could do!