Abstract
Traffic safety is diminished by drivers’ changing lanes in queued traffic and mixes of pedestrians and vulnerable vehicles (scooters, bikes, and motorcycles) with large vehicles in the traffic stream. Assessing locations with these recurring but dynamic hazardous conditions requires extensive and ongoing monitoring. Traditional monitoring methods rely on sensors at permanent or temporary fixed locations, which is costly, labor intensive, and provides limited spatial coverage. Moreover, the location of these sensors may be influenced by factors other than optimal sampling, such as requests from well-organized constituencies. Therefore, traditional monitoring of hazards could miss high-risk conditions resulting in decreased safety.
Transit buses operate regularly over wide networks, and most bus fleets are already equipped with cameras that record the environment inside and outside buses for liability, security, and safety purposes. Consequently, the imagery is available for other uses at low marginal cost. Coupling the available imagery with the extensive spatial and repeated temporal coverage of transit fleets has been shown by the principal investigators (PIs) to be effective in monitoring traffic volumes across space and time. In the phase 1 project, the PIs investigated the use of available imagery recorded by cameras mounted on transit buses in regular operation to identify hazardous locations associated with recurrent vehicle queuing on urban streets. The phase 2 project is building on the phase 1 investigations by identifying locations with recurring noticeable volumes of vulnerable vehicles to serve as indications of hazardous conditions.
The disparity in size and weight between large vehicles and pedestrians and vulnerable vehicles contributes to the increased risk of accident occurrences that lead to serious injuries and fatalities. A deployment partner commented that near misses of such interactions “happen all the time.” Similarly, and as was recently highlighted in The Economist Sept 7, 2024 issue titled “America’s killer cars”, the increasing size and weight of passenger vehicles is leading to an exponentially increasing risk of injuries to and fatalities of pedestrians and passengers of vulnerable vehicles. Therefore, identifying locations on the roadways where such risks are relatively high is critical to informing mitigation efforts. The proposed phase 3 of the study focuses on this identification. The representative quoted above also noted: “We don’t record near misses, so we don’t have any documentation but [they are] frequent”, thus clearly highlighting the need. Therefore, phase 3 builds on phase 2 by considering the presence of near misses between pedestrians or vulnerable vehicles and large vehicles to investigate the potential of using bus imagery to identify locations of recurring high-risk combinations of these elements.
The OSU campus will again be used as a living lab. The size and diversity of land uses make the campus representative of urban areas, and the close and ongoing collaboration with OSU’s Transportation and Traffic Management, the deployment partner and contributor to the success of the OSU campus transportation living lab, offers insights on safety concerns and the practical validations of the developing safety monitoring scheme.
Description
Timeline
Strategic Description / RD&T
Section left blank until USDOT’s new priorities and RD&T strategic goals are available in Spring 2026.
Deployment Plan
Expected Outcomes/Impacts
The ultimate impact of this project will be the ability to determine the location and times of recurring roadway traffic conditions that could compromise safety across urban roadways using an existing and widespread source of available data, namely, video imagery obtained from cameras mounted on buses in regular transit service. More specifically, in the proposed phase 3 of this study, the focus is on identifying higher risk locations stemming from disparities in the traffic mix between large vehicles and vulnerable vehicles or pedestrians. The ability to systematically determine and monitor hazardous roadway conditions would provide input to policymakers and designers developing measures aimed at reducing the likelihood and severity of traffic and traffic-related accidents.
Expected Outputs
General research: New methods and technologies to identify safety hazards along urban roadways. Demonstration of quantifying vehicle type mix safety factors from video imagery.
Research based outreach: Discussion of identified safety vulnerabilities and higher risk locations on the OSU campus during regular meetings with the deployment partner, OSU’s Transportation and Traffic Management (who will provide bus imagery). These regular discussions would increase the practical impact of the project’s results and allow user grounded investigations. More specifically, in the medium term, mitigation measures could be taken by the deployment partner at higher risk locations identified, and the impacts could be assessed by the research team.
TRID
A TRID search (using the keywords monitor* AND traffic AND hazard) resulted in 38 pertinent papers, reports, and projects out of 380 records (see uploaded TRID Search Document). The search results emphasize the importance of traffic safety monitoring. Some studies address aspects related to vehicle speeds, presence of cyclists in the traffic stream, and work zones. A few studies refer to the use of imagery for the purpose of monitoring. However, none of the studies address the importance of and ability to achieve time- and space-comprehensive data collection for the purpose of safety hazard monitoring and assessment, which is the focus of the proposed study.
Individuals Involved
| Email |
Name |
Affiliation |
Role |
Position |
| mccord.2@osu.edu |
McCord, Mark |
The Ohio State University |
Co-PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
| mishalani@osu.edu |
Mishalani, Rabi |
The Ohio State University |
PI |
Faculty - Tenured |
| redmill.1@osu.edu |
Redmill, Keith |
The Ohio State University |
Co-PI |
Faculty - Research/Systems |
Budget
Amount of UTC Funds Awarded
$102237.00
Total Project Budget (from all funding sources)
$201595.00
Documents
Match Sources
No match sources!
Partners
| Name |
Type |
| OSU Transportation and Traffic Management |
Deployment Partner_ Deployment Partner_ |
