Safety advocates and some state leaders have been down this road before but are hoping the third try will be the charm.

hoping this catches on, pretty please CA…

i like the fact that the money can only go into maintaining the speed cameras or into making the road safer. those are both things desperately needed, especially in LA.

  •  offthecrossbar   ( @offthecrossbar@beehaw.org ) 
    1•1 year ago

    Regarding #1, the problem lies in the implementation of the cameras. I think the idea of average speed cameras are interesting. Basically, just have multiple cameras and use the time a driver takes to get from one to the other to calculate their average speed. This way you can’t game it by slowing down at specific points.

    •  Pseu   ( @Pseu@beehaw.org ) 
      4•11 months ago

      And it seems to be a theoretical claim that people will slam on the brakes to avoid getting a ticket, causing accidents. But studies show that speed cameras do in fact reduce accident rates:

      Twenty eight studies measured the effect on crashes. All 28 studies found a lower number of crashes in the speed camera areas after implementation of the program. In the vicinity of camera sites, the reductions ranged from 8% to 49% for all crashes, with reductions for most studies in the 14% to 25% range. For injury crashes the decrease ranged between 8% to 50% and for crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries the reductions were in the range of 11% to 44%. Effects over wider areas showed reductions for all crashes ranging from 9% to 35%, with most studies reporting reductions in the 11% to to 27% range. For crashes resulting in death or serious injury reductions ranged from 17% to 58%, with most studies reporting this result in the 30% to 40% reduction range. The studies of longer duration showed that these positive trends were either maintained or improved with time.

      https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD004607.pub4/abstract

      •  soiling   ( @soiling@beehaw.org ) 
        6•11 months ago

        accelerating because someone is tailgating you is not safe. the only safe response is to get away from them by changing lanes or pulling off the road. if it’s impossible to move out of their way, gradually slow down. the faster you’re both moving, the harder it is to avoid a crash and the worse a crash will be.

      •  offthecrossbar   ( @offthecrossbar@beehaw.org ) 
        2•11 months ago

        The threshold doesn’t need to be the exact speed limit, I’m sure there’s some wiggle room. How innocent is the other driver in this case though? Even if there’s another car doing it too they are still driving over the speed limit.

        •  argv_minus_one   ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 
          2•11 months ago

          That’s not a solution. Drivers must, above all else, drive safely and not collide with anything. If, for whatever reason, the safest course of action involves exceeding the speed limit (or some other hidden threshold, like you’re talking about), then it is both wrong and dangerous to punish them for doing so.