Within the scope of the BITS project, one of the ITS implementations of the Province of Antwerp is the 3D camera(BITS newsletter February 2020 - Flemish Road Safety Award, BITS newsletter November 2021 – northsearegion.eu/bits/news/university-of-oldenburg-vlba-department-and-province-of-antwerp-publishing-research-results-on-near-accident-analysis/). This smart camera technology was applied on a dangerous cross road in the province where a busy road, a cycle highway and a rail way cross each other and were several serious accidents happened in the past. During three full days in 2019, all traffic behaviour and near accidents were recorded and this data was used for recommendations on improving the design and the safety on the intersection. After some rather small interventions at the junction, a post measurement of three full days took place in 2021 to remeasure traffic behaviour and near accidents and to evaluate the adaptations.
The evaluation of the specific interventions made at the junction won’t be discussed in this article, but can be found in the full evaluation report of this ITS implementation (https://mcusercontent.com/bb5b6c51b8ea3b41bfe39ff67/files/890c0281-f498-3773-aa5d-78510bfe1889/20220928_Evaluation_report_Antwerp_3Dcamera.pdf). Here we will focus on the evaluation and the added value of the smart camera technology. The five main lessons learned are discussed below.
Lesson 1: Objective and detailed image
The technology gives an objective and detailed image of the junction it is recording. The information received brought additional insights of the traffic situation compared to what mobility experts from the town and province estimated as problematic spots.
Lesson 2: A full overview of different indicators together
The 3D camera collects information on different indicators at once, such as the behaviour of different road users, tracks, speed, origin and destination, near accidents etc. This is all automatically extracted from the camera and collected on a very short time. This technology thus gives a full overview of what happens on the cross road.
Lesson 3: The camera only measures and collects
The 3D camera technology only measures and collects data. It doesn’t interpret, nor does it adapt or improve the junction itself. The interpretation of the results and the eventual improvement of the junction have to be made afterwards, but the technology is a valuable tool to make traffic safer in the end.
Lesson 4: Can be used for preventive rather than curative policy making
Today the input for traffic safety policy is often statistics and information on traffic accidents in the past, next to subjective interpretations and experiences of users and governmental organizations. This technology has the potential to detect where accidents almost happen and this can lead to an adaptation of the junction and increased safety without the need for accidents to actually happen. Since near accidents happen up to a thousand times more than real accidents, it is a very valuable technology. This tool can also support and motivate decision making in traffic policy.
Lesson 5: Interpretation of the data remains complex
The interpretation of the results and the output from the camera is still rather complex, although reports are being made and delivered. The interpretation still needs a certain expertise and time effort to be done carefully and thoroughly.
To conclude, the 3D camera technology still has room for improvement in the future, but is nevertheless a very valuable tool with a lot of potential to increase traffic safety. It is an objective and detailed technology which enables to implement a preventive traffic safety policy.
By Griet Vanwynsberghe (VIVES University of Applied Sciences) and Steven Soetens (Province of Antwerp)