VIDEO ANALYTICS TOWARDS VISION ZERO

-> "Video Analytics towards Vision Zero" report describes how Microsoft, the City of Bellevue, WA, and the University of Washington are using video analytics and machine learning to make roads safer without waiting until there are enough crash reports filed to trigger a "High Accident Corridor" designation. This new technology offers unprecedented ways to map, manage, and analyze near-miss data in real time to predict where collisions could happen, and provide essential information so that governments can evaluate the effectiveness of current safety programs and pinpoint interventions. http://bit.ly/2kqWUap

CAMERAS & COMPUTERS TRACK NEAR MISSES, INFORM COUNTERMEASURES
-> Next City reports the traditional way to attack traffic safety is to identify places with a high number of crashes, then make changes at those places and wait a few years to see if the changes reduce crashes. Traffic engineers agree that you need a baseline of around three years of crashes to have statistically significant results. Now "computer vision and automated safety analysis" uses off-the-shelf cameras, or cameras that are already installed in an area, to film a given intersection. Computer algorithms track cars, bikes, people that move through the intersection and knows whether the moving blip is a person or a car, how fast they're going, how close they got to hitting another road user. This system has already helped Edmonton, Canada reduce collisions by 92 percent at one intersection. http://bit.ly/2jVcbw4

from CenterLines, the e-newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking.