TED Conversations

griffin tucker

TEDCRED 10+

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

dynamic speed limits on roads

a dynamic speed limit for different cars in different areas according to driving skill and road conditions.

experienced drivers who have a high amount of skill when dealing with dangerous conditions on the road - or non-dangerous conditions, have the ability to drive faster than simply what the speed limit says. there are many drivers who drive above the speed limit, and never have a crash.

there are also unexperienced drivers, new drivers, drivers with little skill for handling dangerous situations, and drivers who's cars are simply too old or not well maintaned.

i propose the system to use technology in each car suitable to a particular driver's profile of driving skill and the car they are driving, taking into account road conditions. if the speed limit is broken according to the conditions set by the profile, they have broken the law and are effectively driving unsafely.

the system would involve a radio transmitter that would communicate with receivers at particular points along a road, with redundancy measures in place to see if the transmissions that are sent by the transmitter in each car have been modified.

for instance, an experienced driver who is sobre, has undertaken an advanced driving course and passed with a high score, and has a car that most of all the latest safety enhancements for preventing or softening the impact on themselves and other cars/people would have a speed limit of 100 km/h on a straight stretch of road, where as an unexperienced driver with an old car would have to drive 60 km/h on the same stretch of road.

0
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • Jonny Green

    • 0
    Jun 16 2011: Interesting idea for sure, however consider this:

    You are on a road (straight) with two lanes. We have three drivers of varying skill, and as such they are limited to 110, 60 and 50 km/h respectively.

    Driver 60 wants to overtake driver 50, which he/she can do with ease by simply manoeuvring into the next lane.

    Driver 110 is rushing along at his legally allowed speed in the the second lane (which 60 wishes to move into).

    If driver 60 fails to judge how fast driver 110 is going then we have an imminent accident.

    We can see quite clearly that although driver 60 was judged to be a better driver than driver 50, it was this "better" driver who has caused the accident.

    There are many problems with this idea but it is an interesting concept nonetheless!
    • thumb

      griffin tucker 10+

      • 0
      Jun 16 2011: this would be taken into account in such a way that the 110 driver would have to slow down to a safe over-taking speed, also the 60 driver would have to slow down to 50 to match the original 50 driver's speed, disallowing from overtaking until the 110 driver has passed, then the 60 driver would speed up to 60 and over-take after the 110 driver has passed these 2 cars.

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.