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by threetonesun 82 days ago
IDK if it's draconian but speed cameras or simply forcing cars to have modules that report speeds at certain points and issue fines automatically should be standard by now. What's the point of having smarter cars if they can't be forced to stay below the legal speed limit.
2 comments
kube-system 82 days ago
I don't think building enforcement into cars would be a good idea, or even effective, but a few speed cameras work wonders for changing the overall 'temperature' of driving in an area.
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threetonesun 82 days ago
How would setting the max speed of a car to the speed limit be a bad idea.
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kube-system 82 days ago
Falsehoods programmers believe about speed limits:

1. The speed limit of a road is always marked by a sign

2. The speed limit of a road is in a database

3. You can look up the GPS location of a vehicle to determine what road it is on

4. Roads have exactly one speed limit at any one moment in time

5. Speed limits rarely change

6. Well, maybe speed limits do change, but only during certain fixed times

7. Roads have speed limits

8. Cars are only driven on roads

9. There are no exceptions for following speed limits

10. Well maybe there are but we can safely ignore those without any real consequences

[...]

I've personally done some software experimentation with speed limit detection in vehicles. The combined accuracy of automatic-traffic-sign recognition and speed limit databases + GPS is far less than 100% in real world driving conditions.

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SoftTalker 82 days ago
I would call speed cameras draconian.

There's a road near me that just dropped the speed limit to 40. This is a divided road, two 12-foot lanes in each direction, good visibility, with turning lanes at intersections. It's highway-class. Most people drive 55 or 60, because that speed feels appropriate and reasonably safe (search the "85th percentile" rule in setting speed limits to read more about this).

By reducing the speed limit to 40 the road is IMO less safe, because there are always some people who very conscientiously do not exceed the posted speed limit. So now you have some people driving 40, while most people still want to go 55 or 60. This creates an unsafe mix of vehicle speeds.

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