November 7, 2007 By Karen Stewartson Traffic signals may soon be
smart enough to prevent car crashes. A team of scientists at
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel, is
creating such signals by connecting computers and cameras to
"stop" and "yield" signs. When the cameras spot two cars
approaching an intersection, the computer calculates the
collision risk, then flashes warning lights on the sign to alert
drivers to slow down or stop. The team's next goal is to invent
a smart traffic light, which would delay a green light so an
offending driver can clear an intersection without causing a
crash. - Businessweek.com London is equipped with 10,000 crime-
fighting closed-circuit TV cameras - which cost approximately
$400 million - but doubt has been cast on their ability to help
solve crime, thanks to an analysis of the publicly funded camera
network. By comparing the number of cameras in each London
borough with the proportion of crimes solved there, researchers
found that police are no more like