17 October (Part 2) - Safer buses
Bonkers has made a vague reference on a couple of occasions to the fact that
London bus travel can be a risky business - five passengers were fatally injured
last year - and what is being done to tackle the problem. He swore me to secrecy but my
son has been analysing a whole load of computer data collected from a bus
laden with sensors and cameras which has been operating from a TfL bus garage not far away.
The vehicle manufacturer is British and tests have been conducted on busy London roads,
however today some of the developments have been placed in the public domain. I
think one of the biggest dilemmas is what should the computers tell the bus to do when a pedestrian with
their nose glued to their mobile, steps into the road. Hit the pedestrian or jump on
the brakes and put 80 passengers at risk.
There are of course a lot more questions that need to be answered but some
details may be seen on the BBC’s website. There are
rather more on Londonist.