Advocacy & Safety - Stop Light that Punishes Speeders

San Francisco now has a traffic light that detects when someone is speeding and turns red when it senses someone speeding.
In a move unprecedented in the Bay Area, the city's traffic engineers have created a traffic signal with attitude. 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.

Residents and commute-jockeys said Tuesday that the light, which the city plans to unveil today on Vineyard Avenue at the intersection of Montevino Drive, is either an inspired leap into the future or a blatant example of government overzealousness.
Read more about it here and encourage your local commuties to get these traffic lights. Cutting down on speeders is essential if there is to be any safety while cycling. A friend of mine got plowed by a speeder and broke their wrist. Now they have permanent nerve damage to their wrist and they say it hurts all the time.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/04/07/MNG8N61MGG1.DTL

I've seen a version that alters the signal to PREVENT accidents, this system looks like it may kill a few poeple before the gubberment figures it out.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

San Francisco now has a traffic light that detects when someone is speeding and turns red when it senses someone speeding.
In a move unprecedented in the Bay Area, the city's traffic engineers have created a traffic signal with attitude. 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.

How long does it actually take to turn red? What are the chances of the speeder going a little faster and blowing through it? Personally I'd prefer a fixed speed camera and a fine system of $1,000 for every km/h over the speed limit.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

In Arizona we already have lights that give tickets for running them. Everyone claimed they were an invasion of rights but last I heard the intersections they placed them at have had fewer fatalities (they placed them at the most dangerous ones). It basically snaps a picture of your license plate and mails you a ticket.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

We already have these in Australia... Sounds like a good idea in theory, but anybody who drives a car here (in Victoria at least, the other states are alright) will understand why they're hated so much. Either you brake hard and risk having a tailgater crash into the back of you, or you speed up to get through the intersection and get a ticket.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

You do know those actually exist, right? We have quite a few of them here in Toledo.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

We have those lights here. They can record a car speeding regardless of the lights colour. They will also nail a driver for running the red while speeding. The driver will get two fines and two sets of demerit points. Suckers.

CHEERS.

Mark

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.

We already have them in select places here in Nashville.

This is what you use to counter them:
http://www.blinder-laser-jammer.com/anti_photo.html

A light turning red when a speeder is approaching? That may cause some accedents. Boy I am glad I don't live in the city.

We already have these in Australia... Sounds like a good idea in theory, but anybody who drives a car here (in Victoria at least, the other states are alright) will understand why they're hated so much. Either you brake hard and risk having a tailgater crash into the back of you, or you speed up to get through the intersection and get a ticket.

Strange. When I was in Victoria, I found their drivers pretty good. Mind you, coming from the Gold Coast I'd find Adolf Hitler pretty good. Actually, the solution to the above problem is very, very simple. Cameras at every set of lights, and fixed speed cameras just in front of them.

We already have them in select places here in Nashville.

This is what you use to counter them:
http://www.blinder-laser-jammer.com/anti_photo.html

Amazing the lengths people will go to in an effort to break/circumvent the law. Radar detectors, jammers, now they even have little gizmos to mimmick the devices emergency vehicles use to change the lights.

What ever happened to being a law abiding citizen. Or courtesy. Are we in that much of a rush that its worth risking our lives, or the life of another.

Savannah, GA uses photo enforcement of red lights, and the camera records the offenders speed, which can result in two tickets. Their cameras take two puctures, one of the front of the car, where the driver is visable, the second is of the rear of the car with the liscense plate. The first picture allows the courts to fine the correct offender, not the registered owner, as you a driver's liscense isn't required to own a car, just to operate one.

Photo rader enforcement of speed is illegal in South Carolina. Some cities use cameras for red light enforcement and for toll runners in Hilton Head and Greenville.

In Montreal they dont even have traffic sensors in the street to chamge the lights, or computers to adjust the timing for morning or evening traffic patterns

In Arizona we already have lights that give tickets for running them. Everyone claimed they were an invasion of rights but last I heard the intersections they placed them at have had fewer fatalities (they placed them at the most dangerous ones). It basically snaps a picture of your license plate and mails you a ticket.

There have been multiple instances of jurisdictions actually reducing the time of the yellow light when the automatic cameras are installed with the intent of increasing the number of people who run the red light. It's all about money.

We already have them in select places here in Nashville.

This is what you use to counter them:
http://www.blinder-laser-jammer.com/anti_photo.html

I sure hope the penalties for getting caught with one of those things on your car are at least as severe- and hopefully more so - than the penalties for driving without plates... The whole point of the licence plate is to be able to identify a vehicle; a plate which is obscured defeats the purpose. That's why you can get a ticket for having your plates covered in mud in most areas.

-chris

So long as I don't get a green light from this result and end up getting smashed by someone who doesn't have the chance to stop.

it sounds like a good long term idea to me. they need to post signs saying such a light is there. the threat of such a light should do pretty good against speeders.

I would like to see traffic lights that sense cars going through red lights, photo them and write a ticket. If they sense that the car increased speed to get through the light they should get double ticket for both going though red light and for speeding. These cars are too dangerous - so maybe there should be a license suspension as well.



We have those lights here. They can record a car speeding regardless of the lights colour. They will also nail a driver for running the red while speeding. The driver will get two fines and two sets of demerit points. Suckers.

they have these in Germany and most EU countries too and have had them in some US cities... but as Paul alludes to in his post:

In Arizona we already have lights that give tickets for running them. Everyone claimed they were an invasion of rights but last I heard the intersections they placed them at have had fewer fatalities (they placed them at the most dangerous ones). It basically snaps a picture of your license plate and mails you a ticket.
the problem in the US is that automated speed traps or cameras are seen as invasion of privacy ("i don't want the darn gubment telling ME what to do. this is a free county, god d*mmit!!"). i think for most non-Americans (say Europeans or Australians) this anti-government attitude is VERY hard to understand.

but as to the original light:

How long does it actually take to turn red? What are the chances of the speeder going a little faster and blowing through it?
i assume that the speed sensor must be placed a fair distance BEFORE the light, depending on the type of road and speed limit maybe up to a 1/4 mile, so the light has time to change to yellow and red BEFORE the driver gets to the light. but it sounds like a very cool idea

A light turning red when a speeder is approaching? That may cause some accedents. Boy I am glad I don't live in the city.
if as i assume above, the sensor is far enough ahead that the light is red well before the speeder gets there, then how could that "cause accidents"? i think the effect would be exactly the opposite as speeders would either learn not to speed or have to stop at every intersection. sounds like a pretty clear way to REDUCE accidents.

Sounds to me like they are punishing a whole lot of people for the actions of one. I suspect there will be major traffic slow downs in some areas. Sure, locals might know of the lights and adjust their speeds accordingly, but what about tourists? From what I hear SF has a fair amount of tourists that might not even know about the lights.

I am from Toledo, OH and they have the red light cameras. I think they are a decent idea and I haven't seen any problems caused by them. I really don't think speeding is a huge problem unless they are intending to get people going significantly over.

if as i assume above, the sensor is far enough ahead that the light is red well before the speeder gets there, then how could that "cause accidents"? i think the effect would be exactly the opposite as speeders would either learn not to speed or have to stop at every intersection. sounds like a pretty clear way to REDUCE accidents.

My paper shows the light to actually be in Pleasanton, which is east of Oakland. The system uses radar to gauge speed, and is so far out from the light that it has a sign showing the motorist's speed, and gives them plenty of time to slow down. If a car keeps speeding more than 5 mph above the limit, the light will change to red with enough time for a car to stop. The article says the crossing street's light remains red for 10 seconds after the speeding car's light changes to red, to allow for people speeding up and running the light. Drivers are upset about the light, but the residents in the area are happy about it. The light replaced a stop sign at a busy intersection. Children have almost been hit trying to cross legally to get to a school bus stop. I guess if the drivers would pay attention and drive properly, they wouldn't have to worry about these lights being installed.

Olympia, are you listening!!??

1984. george orwell.

Most likely this is a reaction to the southern california court ruling last year that ticketing cameras' tickets were issued illegally. The main issue if I remember correctly was the subcontracting out of this service as a per ticket profit to the contractor. This created a bonus for the contracter to play with the varibles (grace periods, timing, photographic standards, etc) to maximize the number of tickets issued. There is no profit motivation in this system in contrast.