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Pistonheads lamenting the rise of the machine will not be heartened to hear there's a new acronym in town: ICAV. "Intersection Crash Avoidance, Violation" systems sound an alarm if a driver is about to run a stop sign, red light or other mission critical intersection warning. According to a pdf downloadable at Accidentreconstruction.com, researchers are set to field test practical ICAV systems. While enthusiasts may regret yet another attempt to "dumb down" safe driving, there's no denying the magnitude of the problem. In 1999, some 261k light vehicle crashes occurred at intersections where a driver was later charged with running a stop sign. That same year, 133k crashes involved traffic signal violations.
7 Comments on “Intersection Crash Countermeasures Set for Field Test...”
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And how many drivers will in fact cause an otherwise avoidable accident because of their spontaneous and reflexive reactions to the unexpected “alarm” sound? I certainly hope that issue will be thoroughly studied and analyzed before these ICAVs become standard government fare.
I think it’s a neat idea. I know there’ve been a number of times where I’m been in a vehicle where the driver ran a stop sign, mainly because he/she was distracted, talking to someone, whatever. Obviously, a better solution would be to make better and more alert drivers, but this isn’t a terrible idea. Many drivers, too, can get distracted by other vehicles, or other hazards near the road. An audible warning won’t necessarily make the driver better, but may alert the driver to the upcoming intersection.
Since this is only a field test, I say go for it, see what happens. The only way to tell for sure whether this works or not is to try it in the real world. I just wonder how they are going to distribute the new units? People who regularly run, or are prone to run, stop signs likely won’t be first in line to pick one of these up, but obviously, they are the ones who need it. Perhaps, initially anyway, through a court order, as a sentence for running red lights or stop signs?
All the studies I’ve looked at regarding intersection traffic enforcement seem to increase rear-end collisions.
Traffic light cameras are a prime example. They are going up all over my neighborhood, and I routinely see people hard on the brakes at a yellow light.
I would venture to say that lots of people run red-lights every day without incident. Is it wrong? Sure. But now that we are scaring the crap out of soccer moms at every intersection, we should expect an increase in the number of intersection collisions.
I loved my last car, then some old lady blew through an unopposed stop and met me head-on at combined speed.
Her first words were, “Did I have a stop?”
I’m divided over these sorts of things.
An alarm sounding might be just the thing: Shame people into better behavior.
Well, we’re still losing over 43,000 lives each year in the US, despite advanced safety features in more and more cars.
Seems like something like this is worth a try — I know of some very blind intersections locally that could warrant some kind of warning either to the innocent or potentially guilty party — or both!
Won’t change the outcome when the stop sign/traffic light runner has the stereo cranked to 150dB.
Unlikely to change the outcome when the stop sign/traffic signal runner is yakking on a cell phone.
How about a broad band cell phone jammer at every controlled intersection? Actually, an ignition activated low milliwatt in-car jammer with an effective radius of 4 feet or so would be even better. You could flange one up now, but I think they’re illegal as hell.