FARK.com: (6778732) Research has developed an algorithim to determine whether a car is about to run a red light. Yellow lights & increase of speed surprisingly absent

		Research has developed an algorithim to determine whether a car is about to run a red light. Yellow lights & increase of speed surprisingly absent (wired.com)		17
		More: Interesting, mathematical model, aeronautics, predictive modeling, snowball effect, speeds

• • •

754 clicks; posted to Geek » on 01 Dec 2011 at 12:33 PM | Favorite | share:

more» |

Get this fabulous T-Shirt and impress the methane out of your friends!

shirt it!

Share this link:

URL:

http://fk.cm/go/6778732

Bookmark:

Article Comments close

17 Comments (+0 »)

ZAZ

2011-12-01 12:30:16 PM

There was a story on MIT's web site earlier this year about an app that watched lights and decided whether the driver would beat the red, should give up and start slowing down now, or could even hit green by slowing down now. They said they programmed the app not to tell drivers to speed up to make the light.

AiryAnne

2011-12-01 12:40:10 PM

I can't wait to see drivers getting pre-red-light-cam tickets.

KingKauff

2011-12-01 12:40:14 PM

Red light means stop, green light means go, and yellow lught means go very fast

Ctrl-Alt-Del

2011-12-01 12:48:02 PM

KingKauff: Red light means stop, green light means go, and yellow lught means go very fast

Actually it means "Slow down"

jvl

2011-12-01 01:07:08 PM

KingKauff: Red light means stop, green light means go, and yellow light means go very fast

This answer abides.

dready zim

2011-12-01 01:09:51 PM

I want orange to last longer. If I am driving my (22 year old) van then there is a point where I can`t slow down my van before the junction (takes 8-10 seconds) but it takes me more time than the orange lasts (4 seconds) to reach the junction which means I am committed to going over the junction and the lights might have changed to red by the time I get there. If orange lasted longer this would give me time to stop for the red light.

akula

2011-12-01 01:10:13 PM

How about instead of warning other cars not to go because some asshole is about to run the light, after one or two reds and the person is planning to do it again, their car just slows down to 10mph and then the vehicle CPU commits hara-kiri?

Let's not put the responsibility for safety solely on the responsible people while letting the schmucks off easy. Introduce a measure of punishment- start running lights, your car repair bills are guaranteed to skyrocket in the very near future.

jvl

2011-12-01 01:19:31 PM

dready zim: I want orange to last longer. If I am driving my (22 year old) van then there is a point where I can`t slow down my van before the junction (takes 8-10 seconds) but it takes me more time than the orange lasts (4 seconds) to reach the junction which means I am committed to going over the junction and the lights might have changed to red by the time I get there. If orange lasted longer this would give me time to stop for the red light.

(a) Fix your goddam brakes. There are other people on the road besides you.

(b) Since you know about the problem, there is no excuse for running the red. You'll just have to cope by slowing down enough that the yellow does work for you.

(c) Your statement of the math is in error. A yellow which lasts four seconds is enough time to stop if your car takes eight seconds to stop. Hint: You don't go full speed for eight seconds and then instantly stop.

TsukasaK

2011-12-01 01:39:02 PM

I'll go ahead and be that guy for this thread:

Don't want tickets? Don't run red lights.

/and stop speeding too, sparky. The laws apply to you too.

torusXL

2011-12-01 01:42:12 PM

jvl: dready zim: I want orange to last longer. If I am driving my (22 year old) van then there is a point where I can`t slow down my van before the junction (takes 8-10 seconds) but it takes me more time than the orange lasts (4 seconds) to reach the junction which means I am committed to going over the junction and the lights might have changed to red by the time I get there. If orange lasted longer this would give me time to stop for the red light.

(a) Fix your goddam brakes. There are other people on the road besides you.

(b) Since you know about the problem, there is no excuse for running the red. You'll just have to cope by slowing down enough that the yellow does work for you.

(c) Your statement of the math is in error. A yellow which lasts four seconds is enough time to stop if your car takes eight seconds to stop. Hint: You don't go full speed for eight seconds and then instantly stop.

I think dready zim is saying that sometimes he'll be driving at full speed because the light is green but there's at times a scenario where the light turns yellow and lasts for 4 seconds on yellow, but he's 8 seconds from being able to stop.

You can't slow down on green in expectation of the yellow because that would just be farked up.

ChubbyTiger

2011-12-01 02:07:59 PM

torusXL: jvl: dready zim: I want orange to last longer. If I am driving my (22 year old) van then there is a point where I can`t slow down my van before the junction (takes 8-10 seconds) but it takes me more time than the orange lasts (4 seconds) to reach the junction which means I am committed to going over the junction and the lights might have changed to red by the time I get there. If orange lasted longer this would give me time to stop for the red light.

(a) Fix your goddam brakes. There are other people on the road besides you.

(b) Since you know about the problem, there is no excuse for running the red. You'll just have to cope by slowing down enough that the yellow does work for you.

(c) Your statement of the math is in error. A yellow which lasts four seconds is enough time to stop if your car takes eight seconds to stop. Hint: You don't go full speed for eight seconds and then instantly stop.

I think dready zim is saying that sometimes he'll be driving at full speed because the light is green but there's at times a scenario where the light turns yellow and lasts for 4 seconds on yellow, but he's 8 seconds from being able to stop.

You can't slow down on green in expectation of the yellow because that would just be farked up.

A car in decent condition should be able to slow down from 60 mph in less then 6 sec. Now, most roads with traffic lights have limits well below 60 and a yellow light is not an emergancy situation that you can't plan for, so if it takes dude 8 s to slow his van down, I suggest that (a) it's a piece of shiat that should be destroyed immediately, (b) he can't drive for crap, (c) both.

/and the answer is ...

Surool

2011-12-01 02:23:19 PM

KingKauff: Red light means stop, green light means go, and yellow lught means go very fast

Green light means go, yellow means go really fast and red means "the guy behind me will stop"

sendtodave

2011-12-01 02:24:10 PM

Get Lost

2011-12-01 04:43:55 PM

shorter yellow lights mean more profit to be made with the red light cameras. Oh shoot, I meant to write 'more safety to be made'. Darn it. And I can't go back to correct it. Oh Well.

Unobtanium

2011-12-01 07:15:29 PM

akula: How about instead of warning other cars not to go because some asshole is about to run the light, after one or two reds and the person is planning to do it again, their car just slows down to 10mph and then the vehicle CPU commits hara-kiri?

Let's not put the responsibility for safety solely on the responsible people while letting the schmucks off easy. Introduce a measure of punishment- start running lights, your car repair bills are guaranteed to skyrocket in the very near future.

That, plus in addition to (or instead of) warning the others, hold the red on the cross streets a little longer if the change cycle hasn't moved it to green yet. Sure, it gives the runner clear sailing, but better that than a collision.

/This is where the little devil pops up on my shoulder and says, "Figure out a way to project a hologram of the other cars jumping THEIR red lights, just to scare the stuffing out of the red-light runner."

Any Pie Left

2011-12-01 08:03:19 PM

I think I can write this algorithm.

If vehicle is:

Red Pickup
Black SUV
Silver Acura

and/or

using a cel phone

and/or

Weaving in lanes without signals
Driving too fast for conditions and traffic
playing big subwoofers

and/or

Carrying Missouri plates

This driver is a douchebag likely to run the red.

NarrMaster

2011-12-01 10:46:49 PM

torusXL:

I think dready zim is saying that sometimes he'll be driving at full speed because the light is green but there's at times a scenario where the light turns yellow and lasts for 4 seconds on yellow, but he's 8 seconds from being able to stop.

You can't slow down on green in expectation of the yellow because that would just be farked up.

Google "stale green light"

Displayed 17 of 17 comments

Redisplay/refresh comments

This thread is closed to new comments.