When I travelled through Spain back in '99 these were pretty common. They usually turned green when cars had slowed down to the speed limit. I travelled by bike so I didn't trigger them very often..
> Robocars of course would know where all these are and never trigger one, even if the occupants have commanded the vehicle to exceed the limit.
I will be very surprised if occupants of self driving vehicles have that option.
One thing that the author may not be aware of is that, despite the light turning red for you and oncoming traffic, it may turn green for any side streets. Running the red light has potential consequences much more severe than just a ticket (such as crashing into another driver) so no one ever dares to do so.
I completely agree that these are better than speed bumps because people speed through those too. And there's no need to slow down to 15 Km/hr either, you can do it at the speed limit with some margin of error (around 15% iirc).
The interesting part of Velocidade Controlada is the attitude/culture behind it: prevention rather than punishment. Compare this to the UK where the equivalent system is a hidden camera and a series fines with the intention on criminalizing the driver.
Now if only this kinds of enlightened thinking could be exteneded to driving and talking on cell phones, driving at 200 km/h on the main highways and excessive speed at cross-walks then the roads in Portugal could become much safer and fewer lives would the ruined.
Sounds like a great opportunity to mass produce and sell to other countries.
If you employ solar and use readily available components, they must come out cheaper than doing roadwork.
Sending photos to centralized database might be more expensive part, but then, perhaps those could be relayed for free via WiFi around (more social pressure).
Sounds a little bit like (though more sophisticated than) the timed lights that some cities employ, for example Oak and Fell streets in San Francisco. If you go the speed limit you'll get green all the way though; if you speed you'll just sit at a red light.
In America these are called "rest on red" https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EBUR8sPmc
I've heard from my Portuguese cousins that they do it this way because speed cameras aren't legal, but red light cameras are.
So while they can't give you a fine for speeding based on photo radar, they can give you a fine for running a red light.
Not sure if it's true or not. But I've experienced the same red lights in the middle of nowhere while driving in Portugal. There's also the social pressure of triggering one of these -- it stops traffic and then you get the glares from all around.
Portugal is also obsessed with roundabouts of all sizes, which I think are a traffic-calming and safety thing as well. Even small intersections in the rural areas have roundabouts rather than the standard North American-style 4-way stop signs.