Stoplight to punish suburban speeders reports on a new traffic signal in Pleasanton, California (in the Bay Area):
It senses when a speeder is approaching and metes out swift punishment. It doesn’t write a ticket. It immediately turns from green to yellow to red.
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Drivers on the two-lane Vineyard, as they approach Montevino, will see an electronic sign that gives the speed limit — 40 mph heading west and 35 mph going east — then flashes their actual speed.A camera about 350 feet from the intersection measures speed and tells the light whether to do its business. Traffic engineers plan to give drivers a few miles per hour of wiggle room. But once speeding is detected, the red light will turn on for at least 10 seconds — or 30 seconds-plus if cross traffic is waiting.
Some people don’t get it:
“It’s depriving you of another one of your liberties — going fast,” Pattee said. “If they implement it everywhere, there will be nothing but red lights. Nobody does the speed limit.”
As Tyler Cowen points out (in New punishment for speeders):
This will succeed in reducing speeding. By making the decision calculus more uni-dimensional (time vs. time, rather than time vs. speeding ticket), individiuals are more likely to see the folly of driving at unsafe speeds.
The real problem is that the speeder isn’t the only one on the road:
In addition, red rage could become an issue as drivers can be guilty by association if a speeder is just in front of them, just behind them or moving simultaneously in the opposite direction.