West Midlands to analyse ‘near miss’ data on roads

Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is set to upgrade some of its traffic sensors to help establish the causes of collisions at specific points.

The initiative will take place under the agency’s partnership with transport tech company VivaCity, and involves upgrading 32 existing sensors to include the firm’s Near Miss feature that analyses “object speed and path data” to help understand interactions between road users.

TfWM, which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), has previously collaborated with VivaCity on a number of initiatives, including a traffic monitoring and air quality project.

“Our existing partnership is going a long way in future-proofing our road networks, however, with the added benefits of Near Miss technology, local authorities will be empowered to help prevent future road collisions by being aware of issues before the worst happens,” said Andy Street, Mayor of West Midlands and chair of the WMCA.

“Our shared mission is to innovate road traffic networks to make improvements for local people across the board.

“Road safety is of paramount importance so it is great to be working with VivaCity to help make this a reality.”

WMCA said the overall aim of the project is to better diagnose the root cause of collisions, provide insights as to why these are occurring and recommend potential solutions to help prevent them in the future.

Privacy

The project has two phases: the first is to monitor insights from VivaCity’s Near Miss data over 6-12 months, and the second includes using these insights to determine future locations that would benefit from the upgraded sensors.

When asked about the privacy implications of the new technology, a spokesperson for WMCA said: “This is a collaborative project with input welcomed from all stakeholders who are interested in improving road safety in the West Midlands.

“The data collected is anonymised – crucially, the project’s findings and best practices will be shared publicly so that the wider industry will benefit from the results.”

The authority did not specify how much the upgrade will cost, but did say there “is a joint investment from all parties”.

“We aim to use the collated data to improve road safety throughout the West Midlands, and in turn, identify more hotspots that could be vital to reducing traffic incidents,” said Mark Nicholson, CEO and co-founder at VivaCity.

Deleted: In September, Wellington City Council in New Zealand announced that it was preparing to roll out a new sensor network from VivaCity to collect data on traffic to help inform decision-making.

Image: VivaCity