The city of Pleasanton, Calif., is introducing a new weapon in the fight against speeders: Smart Stop Lights. If a sensor notices folks traveling a bit beyond the speed limit, the light changes to stop them.
On one level, it’s an attractive answer. The question is, will it actually reduce accidents? Never mind the libertarian whinging …
It’s all a little too much for Ken Pattee, a 52-year-old construction inspector from Livermore who sometimes rides his Harley-Davidson down Vineyard Avenue. He said he doesn’t feel good about the electronic eye.
“It’s depriving you of another one of your liberties — going fast,” Pattee said. “If they implement it everywhere, there will be nothing but red lights. Nobody does the speed limit.”
… my question is, will folks be encouraged to simply ignore the stop light, or roar ahead that much faster (and unsafely) once it turns green?
One further oddity here:
In addition, red rage could become an issue as drivers can be guilty by association if a speeder is just in front of them, just behind them or moving simultaneously in the opposite direction.
Pleasanton plans to address at least one of those issues: the opposite-direction speeder. The Pleasanton signal will allow a red light to shine in just one direction, letting the light stay green for the nonspeeding driver in the opposite direction. In such cases, any cross traffic will continue receiving the red light.
That, I think, is going to lead to confusion.
Stlll, I’ll be curious to see how it turns out.
(via BoingBoing)
Several places in Boulder have had these, and other traffic mitigation programs for years to help subsidize property values.