Title should read :
Flemish tragic agency grumpy that google wont stream all drivers position to them in real-time.
200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
101–110 of 190 posts
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#102Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#103As far as emergency vehicles go, we have had a system in place, around here, for years, where the vehicles have some kind of infrared device that forces the light green. Bit annoying, when you are in a cross street, and you know it's about to turn green, then an ambulance comes by, and it skips your turn. I think there's also a black market for the devices for impatient drivers.
>Bit annoying, when you are in a cross street, and you know it's about to turn green, then an ambulance comes by, and it skips your turn.
My local (EU) ER/ A+E hospital flashes up messages like "child emergency...all doctors called", "car accident, patient due in", "stroke victim, just admitted", and everyone just goes "ahhhh, fuck", and waits longer.
I'd love to know the significant time lost, as a percentage of your life, with regards to the amount of time an ambulance could possibly delay you.
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It's also probably cheaper than the extra physical infrastructure needed for inductive loops, given that all the necessary equipment (phones, GPS, cell infrastructure) is already in place for most people. Assuming the procurement/contracting for said app is done competently, which seems questionable for most governments. Moreover even if it's cheaper, surely some sort of camera/sensor setup would be safer than drive…
I'm guessing they wouldn't need to fiddle with an app; the software would just automatically signal their approach based on GPS/navigation info. I agree theoretically a camera + machine-learning based system could work just as well; I've always wondered why that wasn't standard on traffic lights these days given that the hardware would probably cost a few hundred dollars (if procurement for said hardware were done co…
Are we are the stage where it is normal to be giving governments always on background access to our gps location voluntarily?
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#105As far as emergency vehicles go, we have had a system in place, around here, for years, where the vehicles have some kind of infrared device that forces the light green. Bit annoying, when you are in a cross street, and you know it's about to turn green, then an ambulance comes by, and it skips your turn. I think there's also a black market for the devices for impatient drivers.
>Bit annoying, when you are in a cross street, and you know it's about to turn green, then an ambulance comes by, and it skips your turn. My local (EU) ER/ A+E hospital flashes up messages like "child emergency...all doctors called", "car accident, patient due in", "stroke victim, just admitted", and everyone just goes "ahhhh, fuck", and waits longer. I'd love to know the significant time lost, as a percentage of you…
Not a big deal at all. Maybe 30 seconds at a time.
Whenever I hear sirens, I always think "Someone is having a worse day than I am."
Around here, we are pretty solicitous of emergency vehicles. We pull over, or don't enter an intersection, if we hear sirens. Every now and then, some inflamed hemorrhoid cuts off the fire truck, but it's rare.
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#106Just in case you wonder, these are apps of commercial data-sharing/selling businesses, not some 'official' gov app for the benefit of the citizens. They are the products of https://ndrive.com/ , https://www.flitsmeister.nl and https://be-mobile.com/ . They also focus on toll collecting and parking fees, so "pay to play" is in a sense already in their DNA. Why do these commercial entities get to influence public traff…
> these are apps of commercial data-sharing/selling businesses, not some 'official' gov app for the benefit of the citizens.
While there are a few of commercial apps that can integrate now, The goal is to have every navigation/gps app have the ability to do this. This can also be done by privacy friendly apps.
> Why do these commercial entities get to influence public traffic lights?
The commercial entities don't influence anything, they provide a tool for their users to influence the lights.
> And due to the inherent red-queen arms race
What arms race is inherent here? Traffic isn't (or shouldn't be) a competition but a cooperation.
Your whole comment seems weird because the main point of the article us that most people seem unwilling to change navigation apps to take advantage of this feature so widespread adoption will wait till the apps people are already using (and which already get all that data) support the standard.
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#107Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#108> A simple example: at night, a main road mainly displays green, the side streets only get green for a very short time. If you arrive with the app from a side street, you can get green immediately, provided there is no traffic on the main road. In Germany, there's an established but much more low tech approach to this problem: simply turn off the traffic lights at night! All traffic lights already have yield/stop/pri…
A city nearby here in America also does something similar.
After 10:30pm through 6am, the main road's lights go blinking yellow, and the side road's lights to blinking red.
Its basically easy to get around, since most lights are now a yield or stop. No app goofiness or any of that. And it has been implementable for decades.
Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#109> A simple example: at night, a main road mainly displays green, the side streets only get green for a very short time. If you arrive with the app from a side street, you can get green immediately, provided there is no traffic on the main road. In Germany, there's an established but much more low tech approach to this problem: simply turn off the traffic lights at night! All traffic lights already have yield/stop/pri…
I don't understand why they need apps for this either. The infrastructure should be in place to detect cars approaching from the side street. Once they have the ability to detect cars, it's simple to assume everyone would be requesting a green light.
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Re: 200k Flemish drivers can turn traffic lights green
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
My experience as a cyclist contradicts that: many motorists will still (riskily) overtake you just to reach the red light sooner. Some people apparently just can't stand to have anyone driving before them. See also: people passing by you on a multi-lane highway and then promptly slowing down once they have returned to your lane...
>My experience as a cyclist contradicts that: many motorists will still (riskily) overtake you just to reach the red light sooner. Some people apparently just can't stand to have anyone driving before them. ??? Seems like the far more plausible reason is that drivers don't want to be held up by a cyclist traveling at 10mph in front of them? Moreover if it's really true that lights only turn from red once a car reache…
Sibling commenter covered most of what I have to say but the other reason this is wrong is because many bicycles can go 20-30mph, and I'm just going to leapfrog you anyway at the red light you're racing me to wait at.
Other times cars try to kill me to save themselves a few seconds:
1. turning right into a parking lot ahead of me
2. turning right out of the parking lot ahead of me
3. rushing to open their driver's side door right in front of me so they can get out and get to their destination faster
I've had a crash for #1 and #3, so this isn't theoretical. Watch for bicycles.