Engadget looks at the new Cordon photo-radar technology.
Developed by Simicon, this new speed sensor promises to take highway surveillance to new heights of precision. Unlike most photo radar systems, which track only one violator at a time, Simicon’s device can simultaneously identify and follow up to 32 vehicles across four .Read more...
Brian T. Weaver, P.E. and Steve A. Rundell, Ph.D., P.E., featured in a Gannett news article regarding the new Detroit Office.
This engineering application known as “injury causation analysis” can be explained in simple terms, said Weaver: “In order to understand the injury, you have to understand the event.”
Yet there’s no denying the complexity .Read more...
Gizmodo, of all blogs, reports on the expanded use of 3D laser scanners by police in the UK.
In the UK as in the US, a car wreck involving injuries or fatalities must be painstakingly recorded and preserved for insurance and court proceedings. Police investigators might block off the roadway for .Read more...
A new paper looks at the effects of external costs of vehicle weight. An extra 1,000 pounds increases crash fatalities by 47%.
Here’s the abstract from Pounds that Kill: The External Costs of Vehicle Weight:
Heavier vehicles are safer for their own occupants but more hazardous for the occupants of other vehicles. .Read more...
USA Today examines the issues surrounding drugged driving and decriminalizing illicit drugs.
Drivers who die in crashes test positive for drugs 25% of the time, a new study finds.
Researchers examined data on more than 44,000 drivers in single-vehicle crashes who died between 1999 and 2009. They found that 24.9% tested positive .Read more...
Wired magazine looks at the future of black box technology, specifically black box technology in planes. New units could use ‘the cloud’ to prevent data loss in an accident.
The Iridium network, which covers the entire globe with 66 orbiting satellites, could probably accommodate the bandwidth needed to transmit at least .Read more...
The New York Times reports on the new regulations from the Consumer Product Safety Commission regarding baby cribs. The author visits the testing laboratory for Delta Children’s Products.
The most pronounced change is that drop-side cribs, long a nursery staple, are prohibited from being sold. But manufacturers must also strengthen the crib .Read more...
Popular Mechanics magazine looks at automotive light bulb technology.
We already use LEDs for taillights, a practice started by Cadillac on the 2000 DeVille. Aside from giving engineers the ability to design lights with substantially different styling, LEDs consume very little energy and illuminate 400 to 500 milliseconds faster than an .Read more...
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website maintains important information about transportation safety. In particular, there is a valuable introduction to EDR’s (or Event Data Recorders). Here is an excerpt:
What is an EDR? What is its purpose?
An Event Data Recorder (EDR) is a function or device installed in a .Read more...
Baseball (and statistics) celebrity Bill James of Boston Red Sox fame is turning his focus to serial killers. Wired Magazine looks at James and his new book:
In addition to wondering about slugging percentages and pitching records, though, James has long been asking questions like: Why do some crimes become more .Read more...
One aspect of the news regarding Osama Bin Laden was the rapid DNA match that confirmed his identity. Kit Eaton at Fast Company magazine takes a look at ‘DNA matching‘ and how it was used by the military.
DNA matching (also known as genetic fingerprinting) is different to full DNA sequencing–a .Read more...
Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.
PBS and Frontline recently premiered a disturbing documentary examining the coroner profession called ‘Post-Mortem’. “A dysfunctional system in which there are few standards, little oversight, and the mistakes .Read more...
