Today marks the end of #NationalSafetyMonth. Before we move into July, we wanted to highlight a few specific projects that our President & CEO Laura Demeo Chace discussed recently in testimony before the U.S. Senate that are making our country safer right now.
In Osceola, Florida, the county is diagnosing safety issues and implementing mitigation measures through an AI platform from ITS America Member Derq. By analyzing video data from traffic cameras installed at intersections, the county can identify near-misses and other dangerous pre-crash scenarios. These predictive analytics platforms provide insights that help agencies address safety proactively and inform future infrastructure planning.
In Nevada, two ITS America members have been working together. Rekor helped the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada identify near miss hotspots by showing the agency data about wrong way driving and dangerous pedestrian crossings. This allowed the agency to make improvements to physical infrastructure to immediately enhance safety. Additionally, Rekor’s AI tools detect crashes well in advance of the traditional method of receiving a 9-1-1 call, automatically alerting first responders. This has allowed EMS crash response to respond to incidents by an average of 9 to 10 minutes faster. As recognized in USDOT’s National Roadway Safety Strategy, the timing of the arrival of ambulances and emergency responders is a major factor in whether an injured person survives a crash.
In addition to the above, another significant investment automakers have made is in ADAS. These tools are probably what people are most familiar with in their vehicle today. ADAS includes Lane Assist, Automatic Emergency Braking, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitoring, Collision Avoidance alerts, and more. These features rely on a combination of sensors, like cameras, radars, lidar, ultrasonics, and onboard computers to perceive the surrounding environment, process data, and make informed decisions in real-time. These solutions can be particularly impactful for drivers on rural roads. For example, the Iowa Department of Transportation has found about 49% of all crash-related fatalities over the last five years involved lane departure, and ADAS can help mitigate these crashes.
Learn more about the work ITS America is doing to make traveling safer at ITSA.org.
Laura Chace's full testimony can be found here: https://lnkd.in/gCRheFtA