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Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

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Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#31

Post by bmelton »

benatkin wrote: post #30
bmelton wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had my driver's license suspended on more than one occasion, and either couldn't pay the fines or forgot about it until I got the letter saying that my license had been suspended. For what it's worth, I would recommend that everybody have their license suspended at one point or another. I never really knew how to drive safely before I had to drive knowing that any mistake I made might send me to jail. I can't sp…

> I never really knew how to drive safely before I had to drive knowing that any mistake I made might send me to jail. Huh? You drove after you knew you had a suspended license? You had to drive? If I understand what it means to not have a license, the thing to do in that situation is to have someone else drive your car to a long-term parking spot if it isn't in one already, and just leave it there until you have it…

At the risk of submitting myself to further judgment, and going far offtopic, yes, I did. I had gotten into an accident, wherein I was wrongly ticketed for hitting another car who had turned in front of me despite my right of way. I went to court and spoke my piece, and the judge overturned my ticket, leaving my only liable for court costs (I think it was $50).

At the time, I was working a part time, $7 an hour night-shift job across town, and had just had to expend the paltry savings I had accrued to replace the aforementioned car that I wrecked. In short, I couldn't afford to pay the $50 fine when it was due, and couldn't afford to miss work.

Before I could pay the $50, somebody had broken the window of my new car, broken in, and stolen all my books for class (which were extremely expensive to replace, along with the window. Before I got around to paying the court, they had suspended my driving privileges. Cost to reinstate was $236.74 (I remember it distinctly, even 16 years later as being so reasonable, yet so painfully high at the same time.)

It took me a few months to save that money up, and in the interim, I made a somewhat ill-advised judgement call. It wasn't as though my license had been suspended for any reasons to do with my driving ability, and I needed the job. It was at night, so mass transit wasn't an option, and at the time, none of my friends worked nights, so getting rides wasn't really an option either. My options, as I saw them, was to drive illegally and hope to not get caught, or to relinquish the job I had and dig further into certain financial ruin. I chose the former.

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#33

Post by melling »

Zigurd wrote: post #3

The NTSB wants to make forward collision avoidance systems in cars standard. I wonder if it would be possible to spoof radar and/or IR return signals so as to trip the autonomous braking in a car that gets too close to a bike?

Perhaps something as simple as having a little video camera on bikes would discourage drivers from getting too close. If lots of cyclists had them drivers might start to move over a little more. Just knowing that you might be recorded could be enough incentive to a avoid cyclists.

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#34

Post by cjrp »

Zigurd wrote: post #3

The NTSB wants to make forward collision avoidance systems in cars standard. I wonder if it would be possible to spoof radar and/or IR return signals so as to trip the autonomous braking in a car that gets too close to a bike?

Mercedes have done a lot of work around this (more for pedestrians than cyclists I believe) for their S-Class: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m9qI70L2yQ

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#36

Post by meepmorp »

interject wrote: post #32

Is cycling that dangerous in the US compared to Europe?

Many (most?) US cities lack provisions for bicycles like dedicated lanes, etc., though I don't know about Durham specifically. The situation is worse outside major cities, too.

Another thing I've noticed is that many US drivers don't know how to, or are uncomfortable dealing with, driving near cyclists. Sometimes they're just careless and hostile toward cyclists - in one instance, I saw a driver attempt to drive a person on bike off the road with his car in an apparent fit of rage.

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#37

Post by mgkimsal »

melling wrote: post #33
Zigurd wrote: post #3

The NTSB wants to make forward collision avoidance systems in cars standard. I wonder if it would be possible to spoof radar and/or IR return signals so as to trip the autonomous braking in a car that gets too close to a bike?

Perhaps something as simple as having a little video camera on bikes would discourage drivers from getting too close. If lots of cyclists had them drivers might start to move over a little more. Just knowing that you might be recorded could be enough incentive to a avoid cyclists.

I half suspect that might be construed as some sort of terrorist activity/behaviour.

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#38

Post by derekp7 »

melling wrote: post #33
Zigurd wrote: post #3

The NTSB wants to make forward collision avoidance systems in cars standard. I wonder if it would be possible to spoof radar and/or IR return signals so as to trip the autonomous braking in a car that gets too close to a bike?

Perhaps something as simple as having a little video camera on bikes would discourage drivers from getting too close. If lots of cyclists had them drivers might start to move over a little more. Just knowing that you might be recorded could be enough incentive to a avoid cyclists.

I thought about having a small flag on a really sharp antenna-style post sticking on the left side of the bike. About a foot or two, laying parallel to the ground should do. That would encourage drivers to give a bit more room, as they are probably more afraid of getting their car scratched up then they are of hitting someone.

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#39

Post by derekp7 »

meepmorp wrote: post #36
interject wrote: post #32

Is cycling that dangerous in the US compared to Europe?

Many (most?) US cities lack provisions for bicycles like dedicated lanes, etc., though I don't know about Durham specifically. The situation is worse outside major cities, too. Another thing I've noticed is that many US drivers don't know how to, or are uncomfortable dealing with, driving near cyclists. Sometimes they're just careless and hostile toward cyclists - in one instance, I saw a driver attempt to drive a pe…

Where I live, there are some bicycle-friendly roads, but if you need to commute by bicycle you are probably going to get some road segments with absolutely no paved shoulder. So the smart thing to do then is to have a mirror, and if a car is coming up behind you and another one is oncoming (two-lane road), your best bet is to hit the gravel.

Also, there are some stretches of road where bicycle clubs seem to frequent. What they do is get a large pack of people, and end up blocking traffic on a 5-mile stretch (they purposely take up the whole lane, probably safer that way I guess, and when there is a bottleneck instead of moving right they take up both lanes). This ends up instilling a large amount of hostility in drivers, so when they see a loan bicycle they tend to be very aggressive (I've had water balloons, even beer bottles thrown at me before, even though I was far right of the white line).

Re: Man charged in Durham hit-and-run that killed Seth Vidal

#40

Post by subsystem »

unwind wrote: post #29
davidcuddeback wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember seeing on Top Gear a review of a car with a collision detection system that could detect pedestrians. (I think it was a Volvo.) I wouldn't be surprised if it also detects bicycles without active cooperation from the cyclist.

The company Autoliv has a bunch of such products, they're used by major car manufacturers. See for instance http://www.autoliv.com/ProductsAndInnovations/ActiveSafetySy... which describes their "vision systems", the features of which include pedestrian-detection. It's possible that Volvo has its own in-house tech for this, but Autoliv are huge.

http://www.mobileye.com/markets/oem/oem-launches/volvo/volvo...
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