Safe Speed Forums

I was working on my flight sim design project the other evening when I came around to the runway lights. The VASI system works by showing an approaching pilot different colour lights depending upon whether he is too high or too low.
I wondered if some sort of system couldn't be used to help drivers judge their speed when it was important for them not to exceed the limit. I had the idea of a dim running light set in the cats eyes which pulses along the road at a speed corresponding to the limit. Keep with the light or it run ahead of you and you're either at or below the limit, get ahead of it and you're too fast. The system could be turned off when it wasn't so vital to impose a strict limit.
I realise there are practical problems but I submit it for consideration.

Thought prevoking idea.

I'd be worried that the pulse may have (not being theatrical) a slightly hypnotic effect, much the same way the a slow strobe can induce sleep. Running / sequenced lights are great for runways to attract greater attention than just steady lamps, but that same effect for mile on mile MAY have detrimental effects on concentration & visual perceptions.

Granted, if keeping bang-on the set speed, they would 'appear' stationary. But think of the poeple that NORMALLY travel at 60 on motorways due to lack of confidence. This added attraction may eat into their already stretched concentration levels or end up with them relying more heavily on technology to keep them 'safe'.


I must admit that just after I passed my test, I once I forgot my glasses (don't leagally require them) and I over used the cats-eyes for staying in lane & reading the road. It was like an 80's video game - Grand Prix or Star Wars! Did I crap myself when there was a curved filter lane section without them! Never again would I rely on that method! Lesson learnt! "Look at the road, not the twinkly lights".

I could imagine somebody concentrating on the lights so much that they don't notice the car in front stopping.

If the lights appear to be stationary, they could fool your senses into believing that you are stationary - and this cannot be a good thing.
However, I can see potential for emergency situations - they can make people slow down quickly if they start the lights running backwards, creating the illusion of driving much faster than they are.

_________________
Only when ideology, prejudice and dogma are set aside does the truth emerge - Kepler

I'm sure there is potential in that idea, for certain circmstances.