- #106
nsaspook
Science Advisor
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Ryan_m_b said:Also of interest is this footage of the investigators looking into the accident. Using the same SUV involved in the crash they can be seen driving that same stretch of road at speed and attempting to break before reaching the point Elaine was standing. From the video it seems there was more than enough space to break in time.
https://twitter.com/LaurenReimerTV/status/977077647543955458
Tentatively my thoughts that this is a failure of two parts (one the car not responding and two the driver not overriding the car) are looking to be correct.
I would say the video above only proves human response time in a known stopping condition. It has questionable usefulness for what actually happened even if a human was driving. I'm not exactly sure what the technical basis for over-driving headlights would be here. 40 MPH on good low beams still gives plenty of time to brake with a perfect human response. I also don't know the legal limitations of over-driving headlights because I don't see the speed limit enforced to 40 MPH on roads with a 70+ MPH limit at night even with marginal lighting.
IMO the poor homeless lady specifically chose that crossing location for a 'stealth' crossing because it's just beyond a street light boundary that could have been just as easily chosen. She wore dark non-reflective clothing with no bike reflectors to reduce her detection cross-section for humans, video or detection systems intentionally so she could hide easily as a homeless person at risk. I'm not blaming her, I'm just saying her actions caused her death.