There is an article over at The Register www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/34894.html about smart streetlamps. Now occasionally The Reg does run tongue in cheek stories, and I am not so certain about this one, but basically the Highways Agency is looking into equiping street light with wireless network technology that can provide basic traffic telemetry and telematic services.
"The trigger for the new wireless revolution is a decision - not just in the UK, but world-wide - that traffic needs to be monitored. Cars need to be identified electronically; their speed checked all the time (not just when going past cameras!) and even more critically, data needs to flow back to the drivers, ensuring they know what is going on ahead of them. In the car, monitoring equipment keeps tabs on the state of the engine. If there's an accident, accelerometers can alert the network to the crash, before it turns into a multiple vehicle pile-up. Other vehicles rushing towards the scene can be automatically notified, and a new speed limit imposed within a fraction of a second of the accident happening"
Seems like a reasonable idea to me.
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I saw that article. It sounded like a rehash of a manufacturers press release. Wishful thinking that other people such as councils and highway authorities will spend big money buying their gear and setting it up. People are upset enough about speed cameras without having every lamp post monitoring their speed and identifying them. Can't see the general public accepting the idea.
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Ah, but (at the moment) this isn't about speeding traffic. It's about monitoring traffic flow, and that's already done by numerous systems without the public complaining.
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Ah but it is - in your quote "their speed checked all the time (not just when going past cameras!)"
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I would imagine, given the context of the story, that the speed is checked so as to provide information about the flow of the traffic.
You can see the average speed of traffic on several of the nations motorways here, using the current sensors. www.highways.gov.uk/news/m25_rt/index.htm#rtt
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Of course, there's a big difference between 'the average speed of traffic' and the speed of individual vehicles. Indeed, I can see ordinary speed cameras becoming obsolete once ANPR is more widespread (if it took you 3 mins to travel between two bridges 5 miles apart, you're nicked!). The same applies to satellite transponders, which will be standard issue one day :-(
Our only hope is the system will be overwhelmed with data...
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Not much of a hope - The current systems seem to err on the side of additional fines when overloaded.........
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'streets' are also for people - do they propose to tag all pedestrians as well ? :-)
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Bora - what Bora ?
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This is in danger of becoming the speed camera thread again so I'll keep this short. Any system that could constantly and accurately monitor the speed of all cars on the road in the UK would cost a kings ransom. Speeding fines would quickly dwindle to nil, would you speed if you knew that EVERY time you would get a ticket 100%, so who would pay for it?
Politicians wet dream to control us all all the time but not a reality.
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