INITIATIVE: Identifying Near Misses with Transformational Analytics

Of all the components that go into community revitalization, road safety is the centerpiece. Access to daily necessities like food and healthcare is reliant on individuals being able to travel.

We utilize advanced video analytics to pinpoint dangerous intersections and develop road safety solutions that accelerate cities toward achieving Vision Zero while also aiding community revitalization efforts. We act as a bridge providing a path for local governments and public organizations to work with innovative technology from the private sector to make all modes of transportation safer.  

Investments in road safety and design are increasingly benefiting from innovative data collection and analytic tools. In a first-of-its-kind near miss study conducted in Bellevue, WA, 360-degree, high-definition traffic cameras revealed important analytics about drivers, such as the fact that 50% of drivers drove 11 or more miles per hour over the speed limit. Data like this allows governments and companies to create safer road policies, and predict future transportation risks.

Near Miss Study in Bellevue, WA

Speeding motorcyclists were responsible for more close-call crashes than anyone else on the road.

How did the city of Bellevue, WA find this out?

We conducted the first-of-its-kind near miss study* using transformational analytics that unearthed fascinating data that is visually represented below. Our groundbreaking near-miss to fatality and serious injury comparison was a new way to use predictive analytics at scale in road safety. The work revealed a positive correlation between near misses and collisions, predicting the likelihood of future crashes.

The project used data supplied from the city’s network of 360-degree, high-definition traffic cameras at 40 selected intersections, gathering 5,000 hours of footage, recording 8.25 million road user observations and 20,000 critical conflict interactions. 

Transoft Solutions collected traffic volumes, road user speeds, and near-crash traffic conflict indicators from the video feeds. The data also identified problematic intersections, diagnosed site-specific issues, and directly informed implementing safety solutions. They then used advanced artificial intelligence algorithms and video analytics to process, analyze and identify safety issues at the intersections.

Since project analysis, Bellevue funded numerous safety countermeasures, including radar feedback signs, pedestrian crossings, left turn pockets, restricted turn movements, medians, and more with the long-term goal of proactively eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries. The investment includes the design and implementation of bike projects, featuring a grid of safe bikeways suitable for people of all ages and abilities.

The strength of these game-changing video analytics projects led Bellevue to secure over $4 million in funding for future road safety projects that will further Vision Zero goals. 

This project came about from the City of Bellevue’s own Vision Zero initiatives, which align with Transoft Solutions’ road safety analysis technology, and our innovative coalition that brings together organizations to collaborate on improving road safety.

Strong Community, Safe Roads

View our “Strong Community, Safe Roads” panel discussion at Concordia’s inaugural Lexington Summit where our work in Bellevue was discussed.

Developing Trends Facing the Transportation Profession

The 2021 edition of the Institute of Transportation Engineers’(ITE), a community of transportation professionals, thought leadership report provides insight into the transportation complexities that can guide the profession’s discussions on implementing new solutions and re-evaluating traditional approaches.

Included in the Safety section of the report, our first-of-its-kind near-miss study using transformational analytics in Bellevue, WA is featured (page 12).

We are continuing to work with ITE on bringing near-miss data analytics into the mainstream for city road safety professionals.

Preventing Near Misses Countrywide

As we did for Bellevue, we work with local stakeholders throughout the country to identify their unique traffic safety problems and use those priorities to partner with the city to fix them. We do this by dedicating resources to help the cities engage their communities and test new transformational analytics systems to monitor near misses, which are proven to be a leading indicator of crashes, injuries, and fatalities.

We utilize groundbreaking near-miss technology that painstakingly analyses thousands of hours of traffic footage with an emphasis on near-miss collisions. Unlike traditional traffic safety evaluation methods, video-based monitoring is detailed enough to anonymously identify near-crashes, classify road user types and their movements and detect infractions and violations. These near-miss situations enable governments and private organizations to effectively identify specific areas with an increased threat of collisions, which in turn allows them to rapidly improve infrastructure and the safety of their respective communities.  

We convene these public-private partnerships to demonstrate the lifesaving power and scalability of predictive, transformational analytics.

With our award-winning work in Bellevue, WA and Houston, whose near-miss “before and after” analysis will be completed in Q1 2022, we are helping to save lives on America’s roads using transformational analytics. How can we help you make your city safer?

*For a deeper dive into our published work with the city of Bellevue, download our Executive Summary, Conflict Report, Correlations Report, and Speeding Report.