Digital ITS International | June 2020
How innovative ITS technologies are paving the way to safer roadways
While vehicle safety has progressed considerably since the 1950s with the advent of seatbelts, airbags and crumple zones among other life-saving inventions, the advancement of infrastructure safety solutions has been a more recent development. Fortunately, as Amine Haoui, CEO at Sensys Networks, explains, a growing number of traffic safety applications for all road users is becoming available with the latest innovative technologies and solutions hitting the market these days
Vulnerable road users in particular, have have been historically underserved
technologies. Traditional loops cannot effectively detect cyclists because of the smaller size and non-ferrous components of most bicycles; and pedestrian crossing buttons are usually not positioned in the bicycle pathways. To address this glaring need, Sensys Networks, a Tagmaster company, pioneered the in-ground FlexRadar sensor, which leverages a low power micro-radar to detect objects regardless of material. These sensors are calibrated to detect cyclists at stop bars or crosswalks to actuate traffic signals accordingly, making them more visible to traffic management systems. There is also an array of safety measures that agencies can trigger from this input.
Looking ahead, as the concepts of smart cities develop and become reality, vehicles and infrastructure will talk to each other, enabling a multitude of safety improvements based on the resulting data and instantaneous communications. That reality cannot come soon enough for vulnerable road users. Indeed, 54 per cent of all people dying on the roads are cyclists, pedestrians,
or motorcyclists, and many cities have begun working toward their vision zero goals with the tools currently available to them.
The best tool to save lives
Shailen Bhatt, CEO of ITS America, stated in a recent article in ITS International, “Technology that allows vehicles to talk to other vehicles, the infrastructure, and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists is the best tool we have to save lives.” But as the debate about the core connected vehicle communication technology (5G vs DSRC) drags out, Sensys Networks has decided not to wait and instead introduce solutions that use smartphones, already ubiquitous among the majority of road users and modes of travel.
The first smartphone solution from Sensys Networks is the GiveMeGreen! app, which automatically detects cyclists or electric scooter riders up to 300 feet (91 metres) from intersections, far in advance of existing detection capabilities. This free app provides an additional layer of safety for users in two ways. First, there’s no need to touch crossing buttons, reducing the potential exposure riders have to any bacteria or viruses in a Covid-concerned world. Once
the rider is detected via the app at equipped intersections, the traffic signal controller initiates the agency’s chosen timing adjustment to help provide green or ‘walk’ signals for approaching cyclists. Secondly, this new detection input can be used to activate bicycle crossing signs to warn motorists of approaching cyclists, potentially avoiding collisions caused by blind spots where these modes of travel intersect.
The in-ground FlexRadar and GiveMeGreen! app can both also be used for pedestrian applications by detecting approaching pedestrians without the need to press a pedestrian pushbutton. Sensys first deployed this passive FlexRadar technology in Vancouver in 2014, creating a “Ped Box” that provided detection and integrating with the agency’s audible pedestrian signals. These days, the concept of this contactless capability has become even more desirable.
Safety through dynamic information
The Association for Safe International Road Travel asserts that, “Having access to accurate and updated information about the current road situation enables drivers, pedestrians and passengers to ‣ make informed road safety decisions.” This highlights the importance of leveraging technology to inform drivers in real-time to mitigate potentially dangerous scenarios. In one example near Clinkum Bank in the United Kingdom, poor visibility and a queue caused by turning vehicles was causing sudden stops and creating unsafe conditions at a critical junction. The local agency employed wireless magnetometers to trigger warning signs so drivers now know when traffic is stopped or turning up ahead. These sensors were picked specifically for their accuracy and ability to be placed at distances that are impractical for inductive loops, cameras, or radar detection options. Speed and presence detection data is sent wirelessly to the control cabinet, instantaneously activating the signs and keeping drivers alerted to changing road conditions.
Elsewhere in the UK, the same wireless magnetometer sensors are used within the widely-deployed MIDAS (Motorway Incident Detection and Automatic Signalling) system to actively manage traffic flows on most major motorways. Using dynamic speed limits based on real-time speed data from those sensors, the system has reduced injury accidents by 13 per cent as secondary crashes are greatly reduced. In a similar fashion, several highways in Israel are now equipped with an incident detection system powered by Sensys Networks wireless vehicle detectors and an advanced HIOCC (high occupancy) algorithm. This system automatically alerts traffic operations to potential accidents, enabling a faster response time by emergency services. In severe incidents, these precious minutes can save lives.
Safety for driver behaviour
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that speed contributes to about 30 per cent of deaths on the road in high- income countries, and is the primary factor in about half of all crashes in some low- and middle-income countries. For many traffic agencies, speed data is a key metric for identifying problem roadways and worrisome driver behaviour. Again, wireless sensors fill the niche, since they can be located much further from existing power options and record speed data more accurately than other detection options.
Dilemma zones are areas of roadways approaching a crossing where drivers are making the decision to brake or continue at speed based on the traffic signal ahead. Speed data collected by wireless sensors has been used in Philadelphia to address problems with vehicles speeding through the intersection dangerously. And in Saudi Arabia, speed enforcement systems have been using Sensys Networks magnetometers for years to discourage speeding and improve safety for all drivers.
Red light running is another challenge for transportation agencies, causing hundreds of deaths every year. Luckily, enforcement has been shown to reduce this dangerous driver behaviour. Wireless sensors can uniquely pinpoint the precise location of vehicles entering intersections after a traffic signal has changed to red. As a result, the technology has become the standard for automated red light enforcement systems as well as red light violation data collection, the latter of which can be used to identify problem locations to be addressed with signage or law enforcement.
Safety for road workers
Inductive loops used for vehicle detection have been a mainstay for over fifty years because of their accuracy. However, the extensive trenching required to install loops exposes road workers to the dangers of moving vehicles for uncomfortably long periods of time. Now, that time has been dramatically reduced with alternatives such as Sensys Networks’ wireless magnetometer sensors. The sensors require no trenching for lead wires and have a much smaller four- inch footprint, resulting in fully equipped stations in a fraction of the time.
Another issue with loops is that they break often due to the constant abuse that roadways suffer from weather, traffic and utility work. Wireless sensors, encased in an epoxy plug and equipped with military- grade batteries, have been vetted in some of the toughest road environments in the world, and are engineered to self-tune and stand up to the rigours of severe weather and vehicles. Again, this means less time spent on the roadway by workers needing to do maintenance.
Safety for the future
In the near future, some of this same infrastructure can be used to improve the travel experience for other road users such as truck drivers and other connected vehicle fleets, again regardless of the auto industry’s V2X network status.
For example, local agencies have challenges with heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) like trucks and vans on city streets. The problem is that frequent stops at intersections often involves heavy braking due to the size of the vehicles, and this leads to hazards for other road users and the pavement itself. The GiveMeGreen! App allows for early detection of HDVS and initiation or extension of the green phase to allow smooth passage through the intersection more often. Correspondingly, signs can be integrated to alert vulnerable road users to approaching HDVs.
As mobility options expand, and the number of road users increase, the ITS industry too will need to expand and increase the breadth of solutions to preserve, not just our way of life as it relates to transportation, but the very lives of its community members.
www.sensysnetworks.com
