Part 1: Road safety series for National Pedestrian Safety Month: Pedestrian crossings outside of crosswalks

October is National Pedestrian Safety Month, led by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Ouster is supporting this effort by raising awareness on pedestrian and vehicle safety issues and showcasing how Ouster Blue City is able to help reduce safety incidents at intersections and on highways. Ouster Blue City can detect and send alerts for crossings outside of crosswalks, wrong way driving, near misses, red light runners, and more.

The Ouster Blue City solution combines high-resolution 3D digital lidar with advanced perception software to deliver real-time traffic light control and surrogate safety analytics through a cloud-based dashboard. You can learn more about Ouster Blue City here.

To kick-off National Pedestrian Safety Month, we will focus this first blog on the detection of pedestrian activities outside of crosswalks.

Enhancing pedestrian road safety: Understanding the challenge

As urban environments evolve, ensuring pedestrian safety remains a top priority. One of the most pressing challenges cities face is managing pedestrian behavior, especially when individuals walk outside of designated crosswalks. The Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that more than 7,500 pedestrians were killed by drivers in 2022 - the highest number since 1981.

Crosswalks are designed to offer pedestrians a safe passage across busy streets, however, not all pedestrians use crosswalks. Walking outside of crosswalks (known as “jaywalking”) increases the risk of accidents and complicates traffic management. Existing systems lack the capability to accurately detect out-of-crosswalk pedestrian crossings in real-time, increasing the risk of accidents.

A report produced by San Francisco Department of Public Health stated that a fatal collision cited most often by SFPD resulted from the failure of pedestrians to yield the right-of-way outside of crosswalks.

Ouster Blue City helps address urban traffic safety by enabling the detection, tracking, and classification of pedestrians and different types of road users for safer, smarter roads.

How Ouster Blue City works for outside of crosswalk pedestrian events

1. Install: Ouster digital lidar can be easily installed on intersections or high risk areas of a road where pedestrians may be the most vulnerable. Rich point cloud data from one or multiple lidars can create a 3D digital twin of the area to monitor pedestrian movements dynamically.

2. Detection and classification: Ouster sensors can detect the presence of pedestrians and different road users in real-time and are not impacted by poor light or adverse weather such as rain, glaring light, or snow.

3. Zones & alerts: The system can be configured to create any number of 3D virtual zones in the Ouster Blue City interface. Additionally, zones can be given rules; in this case you can configure outside of crosswalk zones that are designated as areas for vehicles only. If a pedestrian enters a zone, an alert is triggered which can activate (i) a data recording or (ii) an immediate warning to pedestrians and vehicles through flashing beacons or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) personal safety messages. Real-time warnings can significantly reduce the likelihood of accidents, increasing safety for everyone on the road.

4. Tracking: Ouster Blue City can continuously track pedestrians with unique IDs that do not contain personal identifiable information (PII). Such tracking is crucial for understanding patterns and behaviors, helping city planners and traffic engineers devise effective safety measures. This enables cities to improve roadway safety while protecting the privacy of their communities.

5. Post-event recording: Events are recorded and stored for future analysis to help cities better understand the circumstances surrounding a safety incident.

6. Access data analytics: Ouster Blue City provides 24/7 data analytics on safety and traffic patterns, including outside of crosswalk incidents. Users can log in to the cloud-based dashboard to view a comprehensive heat map that highlights all outside of crosswalk events at each deployment. All events can be downloaded for in-depth analysis, capturing a variety of data points over specified time periods. Data includes dates, entry and exit times, and location of incidents, providing valuable insight to inform future road safety and traffic management strategies while eliminating the need for any on-site data collection efforts.

An common urban city scene: Vulnerable pedestrian outside a crosswalk at night

The following recording showcases Ouster Blue City in action. Set against the backdrop of bustling bars and restaurants, this urban road presents potential hazards for vulnerable pedestrians frequenting these establishments. The event recording was triggered at 11 PM, highlighting a pedestrian crossing the busy road outside of a crosswalk in the dark. The rate of pedestrian deaths is three times higher at night than during the day and accounts for 76% of all pedestrian fatalities. As the pedestrian enters the vehicle-only designated zone, the system records the event and tracks their exact movements as they maneuver dangerously through oncoming traffic. The City is using the data collected by Ouster Blue City to provide immediate warnings and enhance traffic management planning.

Bridging the V2X gap

V2X technology is a wireless communication system that allows vehicles to communicate with other road users and infrastructure. The communication system promises to revolutionize road safety but its widespread adoption may take time. Ouster Blue City offers a practical bridge, enhancing pedestrian safety today, while also enabling full V2X integration capabilities in the future.

Take a step towards safer, smarter roads

Ouster, Blue City has taken significant strides toward creating a safer, smarter future for all road users. Request a demo to see how Ouster Blue City can help reduce pedestrian fatalities and incidents in your city.