Talk > Rants, Raves, and Praise > [Rant] Police LED lights

reply to r81984

Re: [Rant] Police LED lights

Your condition that causes seizures is why you are not healthy. You can still be healthy to a degree, but you still have an unhealthy condition.
Anyways I just dont see any compromise here.
I dont see how limiting distance changes anything.
What about when the person driving who get seizures drives closure and then still eventually sees the flashing lights?
What about a deaf person that relies on being able to see the light?

Unless a significant portion of the population has seizures from lights then I just dont see why any compromise should be done especially when it creates other problems like with deaf people.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr.

They have technology where landing lights on an aircraft carrier can be seen miles away only if they are lined up correctly. Surely this technology can be adapter.

Now I'm not taking away the importance of flashing lights to get a drivers attention, but from a distance I think that alternating flashing lights can draw attention to the police vehicle then upon closer approach the rapidly flashing light become visible. This way, as a passenger in a car, I can be warned to look away. In fact my wife does this for me all the time when ever we are out driving - I shield me eyes and look down and don't look up until I get an "all's clear."

As for anyone with seizures or any problem that may impair their ability to drive should not be behind the wheel.

said by Epilepsy by the Numbers :

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Did you know?

1. Epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder in the US after Alzheimer's and stroke according to the Epilepsy Foundation of America.

2. Epilepsy and seizures affect 3 million Americans of all ages. That's more than the entire population of most large cities including Philadelphia or Chicago. It’s also DOUBLE the number of people known to be affected by autism.

3. Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide. That's more people than were living with HIV/AIDS in 2008 according to UNAIDS.

4. 200,000 new cases are diagnosed in the US each year. That’s about the same number of people who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.

5. According to the Epilepsy Foundation of America, about the same number of people die from seizures as die from breast cancer.

6. More than 20 percent of the 200,000 new cases diagnosed each year are children under the age of 15.

7. Every two minutes someone is diagnosed with epilepsy in the US.

8. In 70 percent of the cases diagnosed, no known cause is found. Yep you read that right, 70 percent.

9. There are over 40 different types of seizures. Not all of them involve convulsions.

10. The mortality rate is 2 to 3 times higher among people with epilepsy. Oh yeah, and the risk of sudden death is (brace yourself) 24 times greater.

So don’t be surprised if you know someone with epilepsy considering these numbers. And think about these stats the next time you see an ad for breast cancer awareness.

These statistics are available via the Epilepsy Foundation of America and UNAID, WHO and NINDS.

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You are talking about less than 1% of the population.
And even less with severe epilepsy that is triggered from something like police lights.
Those that are deaf that need to see the lights as far away as possible are 3% or about 10 to 20 million.

Not that many people have epilepsy to accommodate. Also since it would still be dangerous to drive with epilepsy even if police, ambulance, and fire accommodated and lowered their visibility of flashing lights it does not really have a benefit to those with epilepsy as they will see the light just closure to the source.

As for directional lights, cops have this now. They can turn their lights on so it can only be seen from the rear and not the front, but again that does nothing for those driving with the flow of traffic as they will still see it.
I just dont see how you practically accommodate epilepsy so people can drive.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr.

reply to John2Jonnie