Patent ID: 8775073

Claim:
A method for making an augmented version of a database that is operable as a component in a vehicle system that provides a precautionary action in a vehicle when the vehicle approaches a potentially hazardous location, wherein the potentially hazardous location comprises one at which two conditions are present at a same location along a road network in a geographic region wherein one of the two conditions comprises absence of a traffic signal and another of the two conditions comprises a merge lane of insufficient dimensions, the method comprising: with a computer operating under programming instructions, selecting data contained in a first version of a database to identify locations of intersections located throughout the geographic region where roads meet without a traffic signal and without a sufficient merge lane; and forming, prior to the vehicle's approach to the potentially hazardous location, the augmented version of the database by adding precautionary action data to the database to indicate said potentially hazardous locations at which a precautionary action is to be taken by the vehicle system such that a determination can be made by the vehicle system whether to take a precautionary action based on an evaluation of the precautionary data in the augmented version of the database at a later time when the vehicle is at or near the potentially hazardous location.