Fun With Physics! Join Us For A Free Lecture On Improving Traffic Safety
Renowned Physicist To Give Talk “Why Drivers Run Red Lights”
Sure, even if it’s been a few years since you cracked a book for your last physics class, you’re still invited.
We absolutely promise, you won’t need a slide rule or a calculator to attend a special lecture on traffic safety with physicist and traffic safety expert Brian Ceccarelli next Monday, June 18th at 7 PM.
“Why Drivers Run Red Lights,” is the title of Ceccarelli’s talk, co-sponsored by The Expired Meter and the Red Light Camera Doctor, where Ceccarelli will use his physics background to explain his theories on why the current methods of determining yellow light timing intervals may be causing unnecessary traffic accidents.
“I’m going to make a little physicist out of everyone in about 15 minutes,” chuckled Ceccarelli when asked if people would need an advanced degree in mathematics, science or engineering to attend his lecture.
Mr. Ceccarelli, who’s done work for the North Carolina Department of Transportation and NASA, is arguably best known for two white paper he’s written. The first one he co-authored challenges the standard used by traffic engineers for setting yellow light timing,, while his more recent thesis, “Sir Issac Newton vs. Red Light Cameras” is an expansion on his first paper and was recently submitted to Physics Today–an academic journal on physics.
He believes using the standard Institute of Transportation Engineers’ (ITE) Yellow Change Interval Formula, leads to unsafe yellow light times and unnecessary traffic deaths because it ignores the basic laws of physics.
But does his theory hold any weight in Chicago, the red light camera enforcement capital of the United States?
“I’m not so much concerned about red light cameras but about people’s lives and health,” Ceccarelli explains. “Safety is the biggest issue. It’s (his theory on yellow light timing) is about safety not red light cameras.”
Ceccarelli contends most of the approximately 1000 traffic deaths occurring at signalized intersections every year could be prevented using the formula he’s developed.
“I believe out of those 1000 deaths, 99.9% of the deaths due to red light running are because of that (ITE) formula,” he explains.
The lecture is being held Monday, June 18th at 7 PM at the Town Hall 19th District Chicago Police station located at 850 W. Addison Street (about a block east of Wrigley Field).
For more information or to RSVP for the event, send emails to Barnet Fagel at: contact@redlightdoctor.com.
EVENT: “Why Drivers Run Red Lights”
WHEN: Monday, June 18th at 7 PM.
WHERE: 19th District Police station, 850 W. Addison Street, Chicago (about a block east of Wrigley Field).
COST: Free!
MORE INFO: contact@redlightdoctor.com
RSVP: Not required, but suggested.
If you or any friends of yours have ever received a bogus red light camera ticket this is the perfect opportunity for you to learn how you were cheated out of your money. Last year the city of Chicago usurped $69 million from motorists in the area using un-certified red light cameras. If you’re fed up with cops-in-a-box traffic enforcement attend the meeting and become smarter for it.
Your physics argument is mathematically correct and yet totally wrong. This is what happens when someone uses physics without fully understanding the problem (even though Ceccarelli has a physics background). The major point is that it is not how much time it takes you to come to a complete stop, but how much distance it takes. It doens’t matter whether you are still decelerating when the light turns red, as long as you haven’t entered the intersection. According to his physics argument, you must be completely stopped before the light turns red. This is obviously wrong. A driver only has to stop before entering the intersection, not before the light turns red. To make this even more obvious, heres a scenario many drivers face everyday: I am approaching an intersection when the light turns red. I slow down to stop as I approach the intersection. My vehicle is still moving when the light turns red, yet somehow I am able to stop safely before the intersection (all without violating any laws of physics or any traffic laws).