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Traffic Engineers are blocked without access to quantitative, effective data that justifies safety decisions.
We met with engineers and planners from Newton, MA to discuss our system and the ways in which it could help them make intersections safer.
According to one of Newton's engineers, there is not an automated system that tracks bikes and pedestrians as well as cars. They have systems in place to do both, but no system can unify these counts. Bikes and pedestrians are the most vulnerable users at intersections, so it is crucial to have a system that can give you a fuller picture of their experience using an intersection.
Newton's traffic department often pilots traffic interventions, which are various changes intended to alter the behavior of road users at an intersection. For example, they might create a temporary bump-out around a curb or paint a suggested lane for turning cars. However, they don't have access to quantitative data that shows the effects of these intervention -- they rely on their own observations to determine the effectiveness of the intervention.
An example of a bump-out around a curb that was implemented in Memphis, TN (Source: MemFix Project)
They need a system that will give them powerful, quantitative metrics in order for them to make smart decisions about interventions that should become permanent. Our system can provide these metrics. When they pilot temporary turning lane suggestions, we can produce images detailing the trajectories of cars turning left at the intersection before and after the change. When they pilot a bump-out, we can produce graphs of altered trajectories, as well as statistics of changes in speeds and closeness of interactions between road users.