Red Light Restricts

The algorithms of predicting red light runners- the telltale signs are not what you think - MIT:

To predict red light behavior, MIT’s car geeks looked into all sorts of variables. Where you or I might think, “tricked out ride … tinted windows … young driver … we’re in New Jersey … yep, he’s going through the light,” MIT tracked more concrete data and found it could confidently separate potential violators from compliant cars by tracking vehicle deceleration (or lack thereof) and distance from the traffic signal. For all this to work, says MIT professor Jonathan How, the algorithms need a new generation of smart cars with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, or short range transponders that constantly report location, speed, direction, rate of acceleration, and brake status.

Another interesting application of the Internet Of Moving Things, but how wellmight is compare to good old enforcement?

It’s unclear how many lives would be saved each year if the red-light running algorithm makes its way into a future generation of cars with vehicle-to-vehicle communications. The most would be 700; last year there 32,788 US traffic fatalities. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are 2.3 million car crashes at intersections each year, with 7,000 deaths; 700-plus fatalities are the result of running red lights. But no predictive model is 100% accurate, drivers won’t always listen to good advice, and half the deaths are probably also logged as drunken driving or no-seat-belt fatalities as well. (Fatalities, like success, have many fathers.) Cut DUI fatalities with tougher enforcement and you’ll take a big bite out of red light fatalities; the MIT algorithm ought to cut the toll still further.

Maye its just me, but I wish it was connected to an anti-car missile, so the bad guys buys it every time....