Safety

The “Night View System” was introduced in 2002 with the aim of further reducing traffic
accidents by assisting the driver’s field of vision at night to help decrease the driver’s burden.
This system consists of near-infrared lamps, a single near-infrared camera, and a display to
show near-infrared images. The driver can look at the display in order to better grasp the
situation in front of the vehicle, rather than relying only on the real field of vision illuminated
by the low beam. The existing system left image recognition up to the driver; however, the
new system can help notify the driver of pedestrians ahead of the vehicle. Pedestrian detection
is achieved by image processing of near-infrared images. The world’s first on-board
pedestrian detection system with near-infrared image for vehicles was introduced in 2008.

Toyota Motor Corporation

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

SRF Consulting Group, Inc., in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Transportation has created a prototype system that seeks to reduce the number of deer-vehicle-collisions (DVC) by providing an active warning to travelers. This implementation differs from previous warning systems in its novel use of mesh networking technology, low cost and ease of installation.

SRF Consulting Group, Inc.

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

The Insurance Information Institute for Highway Safety and automobile insurance company
statistics support the need for a wildlife-vehicle collision avoidance system to save lives,
property, road maintenance costs, and our wildlife natural resources. Deer by far provide the
largest and most frequent source of animal collisions. The problem continues to increase with
more injuries and deaths each year as deer populations increase and we expand and grow our
communities. Many animal rights activists advocate that we are encroaching on their habitat,
but it is a two-way street with both species invading each other’s turf. There is no single
answer that can address and alleviate the issue. There are just too many deer – twice as many
in some areas as when this country was colonized five hundred years ago! Even as we take
steps to reduce deer population, the opportunity for deer interaction with traffic still exists.
Physical barriers to keep animals from crossing the roadways is one solution that is almost
100% effective, but not always practical. ITS’s vehicle-to-roadside technology may be a
solution to warn drivers of the impending road hazard of an animal crossing. This same
approach can be used to deter an animal from crossing a road when a vehicle approaches.
Using technological resources as an adjunct to other approaches enhances safety and accepts
responsibility for a problem we have created. The challenge to the ITS community is to bring
its technological guns to bear on the problem and deploy systems to decrease the number of
wildlife-vehicle collisions.

JAFA Technologies, Inc.

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

As a result of the significant increase of traffic accidents with the development of motorization, it has
now become an issue in each country to reduce the number of accidents and the number of fatal and
serious injuries. This paper, by analyzing the process leading to an accident, seeks to establish an
Innovative Safety Concept, combining an Active Safety System and a Passive Safety System, and to
address this issue.
To reduce accidents, carmakers are developing various ADAS (Advanced Driving Assist Systems),
and the market for them is now in its infancy. For instance, ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) and
LKAS (Lane Keep Assist System) were introduced in Japan early in 2000, and more recently, the
“Collision Speed Reduction” braking system and LSF (Low Speed Following System) were
launched on the market. What we need to bear in mind, regarding the introduction of ADAS, is not
only the effectiveness of each system in reducing accidents, but also the concept of the operating
range of each system, in other words, the compatibility among the systems in their range of
operation. This paper gives the name “Safety Shield Concept” to the innovative safety concept
advocated by Nissan, and aims to introduce its basic concept and to introduce systems to put that
concept into practice.

Nissan Motor CO.,LTD. ,

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York

Speeding is a significant safety issue on roadways today. Studies have demonstrated that increased compliance with properly established speed limits reduces crash incidence and severity. One of the outcomes of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) technology is the development of practical tools to enable the traffic engineer to more effectively manage speeds on their roadway system. The Dynamic Speed Monitoring Display (DSMD) sign is one such tool. These signs measure the speed of the approaching vehicles and then feed this information back to the driver in real time via a dynamic message display.
This paper reports the results of a long-term evaluation of DSMD signs at speed reduction transition zones, which are those locations where the speed limit changes from a higher speed to a lower speed. The study found a statistically significant decrease in overall vehicle speed immediately after the installation of the DSMD signs. The average speed reduction across all of the study sites was seven (7) miles per hour (mph) and it was found that these speed reductions were maintained over the course of the one year duration of the study. The study concluded that DSMD signs were shown to be effective long-term for speed management at speed transitions zones.

Washington County, MN

Dakota County, MN

Ramsey County, MN

Presented at the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York