Drivers Tend To Kill Pedestrians At Night. Thermal Imaging May Help.::Pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB), which may become mandatory on U.S. cars in the future, tends to not perform well in the dark.

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[–] 84 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Drivers Tend To Kill Pedestrians At Night. Thermal Imaging May Help.

Yes, I need more incentives to kill pedestrians.

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    [+] 63 points 2 years ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (20 children)
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    [–] 43 points 2 years ago (7 children)

    In IIHS’ latest tests of car headlight systems, fewer than half (43%) earned a good rating. [...] “Vehicles that earn a good rating for visibility in our tests have 23% fewer nighttime pedestrian crashes than those that rate poor.”

    That's a lot of room for improvement without new technology.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    It's the kind of thing you assume would have been empirically tested and have minimum safety regulations, instead of the wild variability we see from dimly lit up close to blinding pulsar from alpha centauri.

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    [–] 28 points 2 years ago (9 children)

    hmm thermal imaging in cars.... or just more public transit and street lighting..... give me the expensive capitalist hellcreating thing

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    That only works in more urban areas.

    Its impossible to covered every road in lights and it can get very dark when you are far away from a city. Same with public transit. I am all for it, but it's only reasonable in more densely populated areas. There just won't be enough people using it in th middle of nowhere to just something like that much less staff it.

    Meanwhile helping cars see people even in those less common and more difficult situations is a good thing. Why would you NOT want your car to be safer for others around you?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    80% of the US population, and about half of the world population, lives in urban areas.

    By 2050, those figures will be 90% and 75%, respectively.

    Planning better urban areas won't help everyone, but it will help the supermajority.

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    [–] 25 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    People could also wear something other than black clothes when they go outside at night.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    Dude. For real. The number of jump scares I've had on a dark fuckin back road, and some bastard in all black seemingly materializes in front of me... Same thing with people who drove at dusk without lights on, MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE

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    [–] 22 points 2 years ago

    Drivers Tend To Kill Pedestrians At Night. Thermal Imaging May Help.

    Thermal imaging will definitely help spot those dirty walkers so I won't miss as many. Those bastards can blend in sometimes and some of them are deceptively quick. The little ones especially are tough to take out. Of course, sometimes those guys just run right in front of you which are easy points but it takes the sport out of it.

    Anyway, it's about time someone put the right tools in the hands of us hunters. I can't wait to have an evening cruise with my lights off and really get a good stalk on, you know?

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    As a pedestrian, this is why wearing high viz/lighted clothing at night is so important.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago* (18 children)

    This has been a thing for decades now at least in Mercedes (S & E) and BMW (5+).

    And it's not just the camera alone, car headlights have a special projector that selectively illuminates pedestrians (or just does a double flash at them). Works as intended, but few people opt for it ... and gov are still not mandating it (like automatic breaking).

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (17 children)

    My parents gotba relatively new Merc and I'd to turn that auto braking off. Its far too sensitive and nearly had me rear ended driving around a bend. My guess is its picking up the retroreflective spots on the markings as there usually isn't a car on that bend but the Merc is beeping at me like I'm about to be in a collision

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  • [–] 13 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    this is gonna be super bad for lizard people 😱

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    ITT: "What was the victim wearing at the time? Was the car acting in self-defense? Do cars have qualified immunity? Did the pedestrian pose a threat or instigate the car? Were they wearing their officially state-sanctioned Pedestrian uniform and helmet? Did the pedestrian have any pre-existing conditions?"

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    [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    Well yea, more chances of witnesses during the day, so obviously night time is better for… oh wait, we’re talking about accidental deaths?

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    Oh good, anything to help me kill more at night!

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    People often don't help themselves either. I remember this time, I was driving on a country road in the fog. Suddenly I saw my foglights light up a dog walking in the road. So I drove around, then as I got closer I saw a man walking this dog, dressed all in black, on an unlit country road, walking away from traffic, in dense fog.

    If he made it back home alive, it's purely down to luck (or his dog being seen before him again).

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    [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    Anything but slowing down when it's difficult to see ahead. We'll just victim blame dead pedestrians, deer and raccoons for wearing dark colors at night.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    Like the case with the paintball guy a few years ago. Someone was driving on a road in the woods at night when he suddenly hit a guy - dressed in dark camo, face blackened, etc, anything not to be seen - who came running out of the woods onto the road. He was a paintballer being persued by members of the opposite team. The car took him out of the game, though.

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