Transport for Wales (TfW), the Welsh Government, and local authorities are working with AI traffic monitoring and smart traffic control company VivaCity (VC). The smart traffic tech company are using AI sensors in parts of Wales to help the Welsh authorities to monitor driver behaviour and inform road safety plans.
VC’s sensors have collected anonymous road user data at zebra crossing sites to understand the crossings’ influence on pedestrian and vehicle interactions. The Welsh council has gained insight from these sensors into how vehicles alter their behaviour when approaching crossings and how the presence of side zebra crossings influences where pedestrians cross.
Monmouthshire County Council also made use of the AI sensors, installing three VivaCity sensors as a temporary scheme following the implementation of a contraflow cycle lane in the town centre. The sensors gathered multi-modal count, path, and speed data, in order to determine if cycling increased in popularity as a result of the cycle lane, and if vehicle speed has reduced following the narrowing of the road space.
Rhian Watts, head of transportation modelling at TfW, said:
“The implementation of VivaCity’s sensors has provided invaluable data to local authorities that can assist with safety regulations and improving infrastructure. We chose VivaCity’s sensors as they can provide highly accurate data on speed and interactions between pedestrians and road users that traditional technologies were not able to. Our goal is to make the roads in Wales safe for all road users, and VivaCity is helping us understand what we can do to achieve it.”
