How Does Laser Tail-gating Detector Work?

I recall reading about one system (some time ago) that calculated distance from the time delay between the laser pulse the system generated and it reflection back to a detector at the source. Ed

This way perhaps?

regards,

Vulcan

This article gives the best description I've seen so far -but I can't see how it could work without knowing the length of the 1st car.

Hi All,

How accurate does it need to be?

1/ most cars are of known length so taking that into account should be no problem. It would need to be a manual move as I doubt any "confuser" can recognise car types yet.

2/ If 2 seconds is taken as the limit for tailgating then at 120kmph (Spanish max) then the vehicle has travelled 67m in that time. Since a small car is 3.5m and a long car is around 5m it's only giving around a 2.5% error.

regards

Chas

The DPS (Highway Patrol) in Arizona tried tailgating detectors, but luckily they were abandoned. If you try to leave a space ahead of your car, someone cuts in to fill the gap and you would get the ticket. Also, people will over compensate and leave wider gaps than needed, leading to massive traffic jams, air pollution, etc.

Our freeways are already becoming a parking lot because of speed cameras.

I gotta say I am deeply disturbed by the trend of becoming a constant source of revenue through to constant invention of new "laws" for me to break.

My bid: Total gimmick.

People are not going to stop tailgating anyway, so detecting them doing so will not help much - cars already have mirrors for that purpose.

As already mentioned, this sort of sensor would not be an adequate measure to be issuing people tickets from.

Therefore, it really doesn't matter how/if it works - it's just junk anyway. It might have that "neat" factor for people that want extra bells and whistles on their vehicle (so they don't have to look in their mirror to see if a car is behind them), but paying attention while driving remains the best policy.

Hi All

The best policing is consistant policing. Most murders would be avoided if the killers knew they would be caught. If the culprit knows they will get stopped or have a $20 fine on the doormat when they get home they would stop tailgating/ speeding QUICK.

The alcohol limit for a driver in Spain is lower than in England but the incidence of alcohol related accidents is much higher. Why? Because the (percieved) risk of being caught is so much lower. If the existance of speeding/tailgating sensors is common enough then there is no point in speeding as you know you will have to slow down in a few hundred metres. Thus fewer accidents and those that do occur will have lesser injuries.

As to how it works, could it be like this? Two sensors at a known angular disposition. Now they have all they need for speed and distance between the cars.

Regards

Chas

distance is calculated by the time of flight and return from the vehicle in front to the one behind. Just as in the laser speed detectors.

Couple this to a high power laser mounted on the rear of the front vehicle and you then get an anti tailgating laser unit