Digital Signage Hits The Road To Save Lives

Digital signage is taking a turn for the safety lane in an innovative new concept that would see semi trucks providing a heads-up on oncoming traffic to following drivers.

Display technology from Samsung recently was used in a prototype "Safety Truck" aimed at preventing traffic accidents and fatalities from drivers trying to overtake and pass semitractor-trailers in Argentina. The two-by-two video wall mounted to the back of a trailer showed drivers behind the truck what was in front of the truck and any oncoming traffic.

The global display provider wrote about the project in its blog:

Have you ever found yourself driving behind a semitrailer truck? If you're on a single-lane highway or road, it can be a nightmare. Even though the truck is driving relatively slowly, you cannot overtake it due to its size, and because you cannot see what is happening in front of the truck.

However, Samsung has developed a solution that may make this problem a thing of the past.Argentina's statistics on traffic accidents are among the highest in the world, with most of these accidents occurring on two-lane roads and particularly in situations of overtaking. With this in mind, Samsung developed a technology for trucks that seeks to enrich the lives of people through innovation. But more than that, this time the goal is more ambitious: to save lives.

How does it work?

The Safety Truck consists of a wireless camera attached to the front of the truck, which is connected to a video wall made out of four exterior monitors located on the back of the truck. The monitors give drivers behind the truck a view of what is going on ahead, even in the dark of night.

This allows drivers to have a better view when deciding whether it is safe to overtake. Another advantage of the Safety Truck is that it may reduce the risk of accidents caused by sudden braking or animals crossing the road.

Samsung led the prototype development by providing large format display samples, and conducted a test with a local B2B client 

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Surge Pricing for Parking Meters

Cheap downtown parking in Philly is both popular and insidious: The glut of circling drivers searching for $2-an-hour street spots means slower traffic, more road rage and worse air quality. The Parking Authority should take a page from the Uber playbook — as San Francisco and Pittsburgh have — and bump prices substantially, to around $7 for prime spots at peak times. This would change the supply/demand dynamic, leading to more open spaces. “Prices should be low enough not to discourage people who are coming in to go to a restaurant or shop, but high enough to discourage people from feeding the meter all day,” offers Rina Cutler, senior director at Amtrak and Michael Nutter’s former deputy mayor for transportation. For those all-day parkers? Off-street parking (a.k.a. garages and lots) with set half-day and day rates will take on a whole new luster.

Source:http://www.phillymag.com/citified/2016/02/14/philadelphia-transit-walkability/