Category: Big Data

Uh oh

~ susie

The old “ask for forgiveness instead of permission” philosophy?

Magic number

~ susie

Tests show vehicles with pedestrian safety features are largely ineffective

~ susie
Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence is on the rise in newer cars to improve vehicle safety. For instance, vehicle blind spot detection was once a revolutionary concept, aiding in safer lane changes, merges, and turns because an automated warning system could tell a driver that a large object, such as another vehicle, was in their blind spot. 

As technology has advanced, the types of safety features have improved as well. Now, it is not uncommon to find cars that have “lane assist” that will physically self-correct the vehicle’s lane positioning if the driver fails to maintain lane control. Another new safety technology that is currently being tested has been designed to decrease pedestrian-related crashes and fatalities through the use of a pedestrian detection sensor.

“Enhanced safety technology can be a wonderful thing, making driving safer for other cars as well as pedestrians,” said personal injury attorney Gregory J. Bubalo of Becker Law Office. “However, drivers cannot become complacent and rely fully on safety technology to ensure safe driving.”

Sensors that detect pedestrians and deploy an emergency braking system have the potential to significantly reduce pedestrian-related crashes, especially with the development of semi-autonomous or fully self-driving cars. On average, pedestrian deaths account for 16% of traffic-related deaths per year and results in the loss of approximately 6,000 pedestrian lives. Additionally, three-quarters of pedestrian deaths occur at night, when visibility is lower. Thus, creating a safety system that can reduce these numbers and make the streets safer for pedestrians would be a significant advancement for vehicle and traffic safety.

However, this pedestrian detection technology can only decrease pedestrian accidents when it works. AAA released new research that shows these sensors do not work consistently, and that they were ineffective at night. AAA’s testing further revealed that in simulated real-world scenarios, this technology failed, and the vehicle crashed into the pedestrian almost every single time. This particular technology may not be ready yet, but it certainly has the potential to significantly reduce pedestrian fatalities.

Regardless of how advanced safety technology becomes in vehicles, the driver of that vehicle is ultimately responsible for driving safely and avoiding safety hazards or causing accidents. Even if a car is equipped with advanced safety features, the driver is likely to be ultimately responsible for any injury or damage that vehicle causes.

Kobach loses voter suppression case

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

@DonJohnstonLC : politico: What is Kris Kobach up to? https://t.co/j1iuIWTC9J https://t.co/NvOvMY7QIB

The weasel goes down! The judge also ordered him to take 6 additional continuing education hours on the rules of evidence and procedure:

A federal judge on Monday ruled that Kansas’ proof of citizenship voter registration requirement was a violation of the Constitution as well as the National Voter Registration Act.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson had in previous orders temporarily blocked the requirement, which was championed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Robinson on Monday handed down her final decision on the case, which went to trial earlier this year.

Her 100-plus page opinion also knocked Kobach, who defended the law himself in court, for his “history of non-compliance with this Court’s orders,” and imposed “sanctions responsive to Defendant’s repeated and flagrant violations of discovery and disclosure rules.”

Republicans like hacked elections. It’s how they win!

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Computer scientist Barbara Simons is very worried about how easy it is to hack our elections:

Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election have reversed Simons’s fortunes. According to the Department of Homeland Security, those efforts included attempts to meddle with the electoral process in 21 states. At the same time, a series of highly publicized hacks — at Sony, Equifax, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — has driven home the reality that very few computerized systems are truly secure.

State officials now return Simons’s calls. Like many of her former adversaries, the League of Women Voters no longer insists on paperless voting. In September, after years of effort by Simons and the nonprofit she helps run, Verified Voting, Virginia abandoned the practice. I asked Simons how it felt to be vindicated. “It sucks,” she said. “I would much rather have been wrong.”

Evidence has yet to emerge that Russia successfully manipulated voting systems in 2016, and most of Russia’s probing appears to have been aimed at databases of registered voters, not the machines that record votes. But Simons believes that the failure to heed her warnings has left states in grave danger, with too many potential weak points to shore up before hackers do succeed in altering an outcome. It is not a theoretical vulnerability, Simons told me. “Our democracy is in peril. We are wide open to attack.”

“It’s not that I don’t like computing or I don’t like computers. I mean, I am a computer scientist,” she said. “Many of the leading opponents of paperless voting machines were, and still are, computer scientists, because we understand the vulnerability of voting equipment in a way most election officials don’t. The problem with cybersecurity is that you have to protect against everything, but your opponent only has to find one vulnerability.”