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Multi-Target Photo-Radar System To Make Speeding Riskier
mrquagmire writes with this excerpt from Engadget:
"Go easy on the gas, Speed Racer, because Cordon is on its way. Developed by Simicon, this new speed sensor promises to take highway surveillance to new heights of precision. Unlike most photo radar systems, which track only one violator at a time, Simicon's device can simultaneously identify and follow up to 32 vehicles across four lanes. Whenever a car enters its range, the Cordon will automatically generate two images: one from wide-angle view and one closeup shot of the vehicle's license plate. It's also capable of instantly measuring a car's speed and mapping its position, and can easily be synced with other databases via WiFi, 3G or WiMAX."
Depends on the autobahn, only some are unrestricted.
It used to be (here at least) that the speed of a road was set at close to the 85th percentile (no one wants to read that the speed limit is "46.8734mph", so there's a bit of rounding).
When the hand-wringers got all uppity about a few bad crashes (hello, random cluster) the limits were reduced. This was hailed as the answer due to the lower accident rate next year (oh, hi there Regression to the Mean). Then there were a few more accidents (cluster), speed cameras brought in, accidents dropped again and the hand-wringers went away happy. Until the next cluster of course.
Meanwhile the various councils and private companies/partnerships who run the cameras realised they were cashing in big-time. So more cameras went up, more limits lowered, more money made; all was good with the world if you were a civil servant (or an importer of cameras, as some "expert" witnesses were...bias, really?) until the cracks began to show.
i.e. people started to ask why regression to the mean hadn't been accounted for? Why other measures were not tried first? Why cameras were place in areas without a history of speed related accidents? Where was the money going? Why was speed the only focus? etc.
Then, of course, there is a bit of human psychology. Negative reinforcement is one. You break the limit, nothing happens, so you feel safe to break the limit again.
The limit feels too low, so you start to do other things (e.g. tailgate, make more lane changes, whatever) to try and bring the state or arousal back to a level you feel comfortable with. Or you stick to the limit and nod-off due to boredom. Crunch.
Trials have been done with removing traffic lights, road markings and other measures to make roads "feel" more dangerous. Result? Drivers took more care. Problem is these measure cost money to implement and raise no revenue.
And finally, there is my one of my pet hates. Moronic parents who *MUST* drive their brat to the school gates. There are the same hand-wringing excrement who campaign for cameras and cause major problems by double-parking and disgorging their progeny into traffic. Here's an idea: park away from the school and WALK your little precious to the gates. Not only will that ease congestion, but you can take the time to teach them road safety (assuming you know any). And let's face it, it's probably the only exercise the wee bugger will get.
The best thing they could do is bring back the traffic police. But then a trained traffic officer does on raise revenue, they merely help make roads safer, catch criminals and save lives. What does that matter when one has beans to count, eh?