Safety Applications (2)
—Work zone alerts
—Pedestrian Detection by Infrastructure
—Priority Assignment for EV Preemption
—At-grade rail crossing (light & heavy)
—Bridge clearance warning
—Secondary accident warning
—Lane departure warning
Work Zone alerts are intended to warn/advise drivers of dynamic work zones, where different lanes may be closed on a day-to-day basis.  It could also be used to warn drivers when construction vehicles may be entering or exiting a work zone.

Pedestrian detection is an infrastructure based sensor that can detect when pedestrians with special needs require additional time to cross the street.  The flashing “Don’t Walk” phase can be extended accordingly.  Likewise, warnings can be sent to vehicles near the intersection.

Priority assignment for EV preemption will prevent two emergency vehicles from colliding at an intersection from different directions.  This particular crash problem, while very low in frequency, can easily be solved by modifying the signal controller to assign priority to one of the approaching emergency vehicles.

Secondary accident warning - Warn drivers of an accident ahead that may involve unequipped vehicles unable to transmit a DSRC message .

Lane departure warning - AASHTO agrees that this will likely be an autonomous vehicle solution.  However, most systems currently under development use camera technology to detect the edge of a lane by identifying the position of the pavement markings relative to the vehicle’s position.  AASHTO would like to know if this system can be enhanced from the infrastructure side by improving the visibility of the PMs, adding edge lines, or vertical post markers, especially in areas where the visibility is reduced by rain or snow