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D.C. Commuters to be Scanned With Infrared Cameras
owlgorithm writes "Washington, D.C. area commuters are going to be "scanned like groceries at the supermarket" in order to catch single-occupant vehicles who are illegally using carpool lanes. The article, from the Washington Post, says that infrared cameras capable of detecting human skin will be installed, rather than the visible-spectrum cameras in use today. So much for using dummies in the front seat."
A local municipal government agency, using technology to solve a problem, as part of its charge to the public?
O, the humanity!
If we get rid of dummies in the front seat, half of the cars on my way to work would be driverless.
Youngsters these days and their high-tech solutions. Yeesh.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
They won't.
It won't.
It will.
The problem with this stuff is that there is a constant erosion or privacy. Every step is just one more little thing. What's the big deal about "a" when they are already doing b,c,d,e, and f. And once "a" is gone, you never get it back because the people already accepted giving it up. When people say "we don't have to worry about losing x because people would never accept it"
No, no, no. You're going about this the wrong way. You've gotta put yourself in the freezer so it looks like nobody's driving. Then they can't give you a ticket, because according to the cameras, you don't exist.
I've used the HOV lane into DC with a child in an infant seat behind me. The camera isn't going to spot that.
Am I going to have to get sworn affidavits stating the child was with me? Should I take photos on my journey? Are HOV lanes 18+ now?
Human beings have a rather unique IR signature that is very easily distinguishable from other heat sources.
Human beings also have a rather unique ability to find creative ways to beat challenges like that.
Random and weird software I've written.
HOV lanes are fairly pointless as is. It's clear that people are not significantly incentivized to use the carpool lanes. Moreover, conflicting schedules (particularly after work) and the impossibility of spontaneity provide heavy disincentives toward their use. They certainly don't cut down on pollution or fuel consumption as cars spend more time stuck in traffic in the adjacent lanes, or taking longer, more circuitous routes. They don't cut down on traffic, as more cars are forced to fit in fewer lanes. People who live in Arlington or Falls Church, especially, could have to go miles out of the way to get to work, despite having a major traffic artery in their back yards.
The money spent on policing, enforcement, and, in some cases, construction and maintenance of elaborate switching mechanisms to change the direction of traffic in center lanes, could be more efficiently spent toward carbon offsets, and opening the lanes themselves to normal traffic would better accomplish the goal of reducing congestion. Or make the Metro train free to ride; it's already heavily subsidized anyway, and everyone would benefit from increased use. (Of course, capacity would likely need to be increased as well, since they're heavily used already).
Regulating the routes of traffic in an effort to decrease traffic is an exercise in futility. It merely relocates the problem; it does nothing to alleviate it. Traffic is already self-regulating, especially as the distribution of information becomes increasingly streamlined. When one route slows down, people take alternate routes. If the distribution is inequitable, it's because of poor infrastructure design in relation to the population. The cure is redesign, not banishing the overwhelming majority of vehicles from the shortest route between Point A and Point B. It would be one thing if HOV was a stopgap while more effective measures were implemented, but as it stands, it's merely contributing to the problem it claims to resolve.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Yes, yes, I know, they don't really specify... ...but hopefully you realize the idea and spirit of HOV lanes is for carpool, multiple passenger commuter, busses, passenger vans, and similar applications, and not someone who happens to be toting a child in an infant seat. :-/
(How did the parent get modded "Insightful"?)
As someone who has commuted in DC, I welcome this. Nothing chapped my ass more than watching a douche take the HOV all on his lonesome. He didn't earn it, he can sit in shit with the rest of us.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Think about how you'd write the code for the machine. Your job is to count -- you have to find at least two distinct signatures. If you find more than one that is distinct, you ignore that car. If you find less than one, what do you do? Probably you consider this a detection error. A thermally reflective glass coating would work. I'd bet a heat pack hand warmer on the dashboard would do it too.
If it were me, I'd try a thermal hand warmer pack on the dashboard by the passenger seat; and maybe one each on a string in the back seat about where heads would be for back seat passengers.
Remember, glass is transparent in the visual spectrum, but can be opaque in the infrared. I know this from using Thermal Imaging Cameras in houses that are on fire. A big living room window can look just like a wall -- or even a mirror -- through the screen of a TIC depending on what outside temperature. You can see the shape of a person on the TIC when what you're looking at is a porcelain shower stall. Your own heat is being reflected back at you.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
http://www.ncdot.org/projects/hov/faqs.html#q2
Do children and infants count as passengers?
Yes. All states with HOV facilities count children and infants as passengers.
Why do children count as passengers in the HOV lane?
The main law governing HOV lane use is WAC 468-510-010. This law merely states "occupants." HOVs may therefore include passengers who are not licensed drivers. These can include senior citizens, people with disabilities, and children as well as other people who do not, or can not, obtain a drivers license for various reasons.
HOVs with non-licensed passengers do not always help to remove cars from traffic. However, one of the Department's considerations in determining HOV eligibility policy is the degree to which the policy will be enforceable by the State Patrol. It can already be challenging to accurately determine how many occupants are in a vehicle. It would be much more difficult, and more expensive, to additionally be required to determine occupant age or licensing status. Another consideration is that carpools are sometimes driven by parents or caretakers who transport groups of children to activities. This does keep additional vehicles off the road.
http://www.rtc.wa.gov/Studies/Archive/hov/faq.htm#Q12
Why are people with children allowed to use the HOV lane?
HOV policies everywhere have allowed children to be counted as occupants of a carpool to meet the necessary occupancy requirement. While children may not be of driving age, there are two major reasons that we allow people with children to use the HOV lane: school and day care responsibilities and the idea of educating our children regarding ridesharing. Often, it is difficult to drop kids off at day care, drive to a park-and-ride, catch the bus, and get to work on time. Allowing parents to bring their kids along with them in the carpool, or on the bus, gives them an opportunity to use the HOV lane. This also keeps enforcing the lane very simple: two or more people per car.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
study that suggests hov lanes don't work.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
and you wonder why no one wants to carpool with you...
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
The real question is, can it detect BODIES? DEAD BODIES???
**insert evil laugh here***
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Speaking as a DC area commuter who takes I-95 in Virginia everyday, this is a great idea.
When traffic is heavy, any small distraction can turn into a back-up as the flow phase changes from movement to stoppage.
So on I-95, cops patrol the HOV lanes, and when they find a violator they turn on their lights and pull the miscreant over.
Meanwhile, the very action of turning on their lights and pulling the miscreant over slows down the traffic in the non-HOV lanes, leading to a back-up.
I'd much prefer that HOV violators are detected by camera and mailed tickets than stopped by a police car.
In DC/northern Virginia, and probably elsewhere, they're called "Slug Lines". Very employed people use them, and whole parking lots are set up near the interstate for people to park, and wait in line for another commuter to take them the rest of the way to DC via the HOV lane. Web sites are available to help arrange car pools if you don't like hopping in with just anyone. The biggest slug line downtown is probably at the Pentagon, but I think there are others. I don't know if Maryland has any.
This makes a whole lot more sense because it actually reduces the number of cars on the road. The HOV lanes are silly anyway, they need a Metro Bus system that doesn't scare away everyone but those with no choice. Or maybe better Metro (light rail) and VRE (commuter train) access. To get to a train station in northern Virginia, you usually have to drive fifteen minutes away from the interstate, through twisty two lane roads, four way stops, and even G^d d*mned subdivisions with 15MPH limits. Every day after work, people huddle near the train doors as it stops, and run to their cars to get out of the parking lot as fast as they can. Few have the luxury of being the first to wait in traffic on the main road or interstate while the rest curse the stupid road planning for what would otherwise be a perfect alternative to spending three hours driving thirty miles up the interstate.
They're just automating an inspection that could have been performed by cops on the ground. I know because I got a ticket for driving in the stupid carpool lane once. And you're already in public in a vehicle where you're, at most, shielded from plain view by a bit of glass. Which is to say you're not shielded from plain view.
So, unless law enforcement plans to use this technology to see something it's not already capable of seeing, e.g. using it to see through the walls of your home, I don't think this is a big deal.