Signs of Things to Come

I was once picked up one night by the police for driving my moped on a Motorway. I had turned off at a busy junction that had lights and signs everywhere, and I was confused. The police told me that 'The signs were large enough to see so I should not have made the mistake', then let me off with a caution.

The next night I went to the junction again to see why I had missed the signs; In spite of looking at a huge sign showing the directions, I couldn't read anything because lights from the other signs reflecting on each other made several of them unreadable.

I doubt whether that excuse would have stood up in Court, but at the time I thought there must be a better way of helping drivers. There is; you can see it at
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,448747,00.html

Briefly, it is to do away with signs, signals, and the plethora of flashing commands that distract rather than help drivers. Hopefully the next stage will be to cut down on the animated adverts that now decorate bus stops, shop signs, and poster sites.

Another way to help drivers is get more people off the road. We all know that is 'other drivers' who are the cause of all traffic problems. Well, animation plays its part there as well. Software originally designed for Morphing is used for Face Recognition and prevents banned drivers from applying for licences under another name.

I remember a 'Columbo' detective plot from the 1970s where a driver's alibi was that he could not have been at the scene of the crime as he had been caught on a traffic camera for crossing a red light. He had an accomplice wear a photo of his face, and deliberately cross the lights.

Of course, Columbo caught him out because photos reflect light in a different way to faces. But imagine what it will be like when traffic cameras use facial recognition so your number plate, car make, and face are all recognised in one go. It would even have Big Brother looking over his shoulder.

Stan