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As I made my way to work this morning, I was nearly broadsided by a gentleman in a minivan who didn't seem to notice the red light hanging above his car. Had his ride - and the intersection - been equipped with Ford's new 'Smart Intersection' technology, perhaps his misstep would have never happened. Currently under development by Ford engineers, the system's premise is simple enough. If a vehicle approaches an intersection with a stop sign or a red light, an audio and visual warning notifies the driver to stop.  The technology, too, is relatively simple. Intersections, like one at Ford's headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, would send information about the intersection and traffic signals to each vehicle. If the car's GPS sensor indicates it's still moving at a high rate of speed, a row of red LEDs, located at the base of the windshield, flash. Pending future development, the system could feasibly even work with the car's braking system or cruise control and actively slow or stop the vehicle, preventing an accident from occurring.
Although my experience wasn't catastrophic, others aren't always as lucky. According to Ford, nearly forty percent of all accidents and twenty percent of fatalities occur at intersections. If a system could offer some means of a last-chance warning, or perhaps even slow the car at fault, it could spell the difference between life and death.
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