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Comment by ck2 | Hacker News Reader

You assume of course they are going to be ticketing for 10mph over.

What if because of extra accurate military gps precision and laser "radar" they can ticket you for going 5mph over? How many times a day do you do that? Will you accept a $100 ticket for that? Your insurance rates going up every time you go 5mph over?

What if they aren't generating enough tickets so they decide to vary the speed limit up and down the same stretch of road or highway? Perfectly legal.

Then you develop two classes of citizens, those who don't care about $100 tickets so they speed all they want, and those who reach a point where they cannot afford to drive.

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No, I assume (or rather hope) that traffic regulations will be enforced strictly, and that drivers will respond appropriately to the incentive and obey the law. I assume local regulatory boards will respond to any economic impact caused by the law by setting regulations that they intend to be followed consistently. I expect a period of confusion and litigation to give way to a much safer, saner roadway.

The current system of semi-arbitrary rules with extraordinarily selective enforcement is utterly inane, and has nothing to recommend it except that it may be somewhat safer than having no rules at all. But, again, I cannot comprehend where people get the idea that they have a right to ignore the rules when it suits them.

Red light cameras can actually increase accidents at intersections. Lengthening the time of a yellow light can decrease accidents.

One of the main reasons cities use red light cameras is to increase revenue. They aren't doing it to make the road safer.

If 5mph (or 1mph over) over becomes the new 10mph over, I assume that everyone would adjust. I go 10mph over all the time, I go 15mph over less frequently, and 20mph over less frequently still. (And, of course, the real thrust of the post you're responding to was a desire for autonomous vehicles.)

That said, I think most current speed limits are too low, so I wouldn't like having to drive 5mph over instead of 10mph over, but I'm not terribly worried about it: I doubt that technological changes will be perfectly handled by legislation initially, but I expect things to work out to a serviceable state eventually.

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