Kurtis McBride, CEO
I’m pleased to share that MicroTraffic, a leading provider of road safety video analytics, is now part of Miovision. MicroTraffic’s staff of 21, including co-founders Craig Milligan and Joel Penner are joining Miovision. The company’s innovative diagnostics and analytics solution will be available as an optional safety study in the existing suite of Miovision traffic study types and their existing customers – in more than 100 communities around the world – will continue to be supported by Miovision.
What attracted us to MicroTraffic is their ability to accurately predict the likelihood of traffic crashes causing injuries or fatalities on roads and intersections. Like Miovision, this safety solution uses computer vision, video analytics, machine learning, and predictive modeling to analyze video traffic data. In fact, about 80% of the traffic video data they analyze comes from their customers that deploy Miovision Scout® for traffic studies
It’s the analytics that sets them apart. Based on their kinetic energy approach, which takes into account speeds, temporal separation, conflict angle and the vulnerability of the user, MicroTraffic can quantify how likely near misses – situations where two or more road users come in close proximity – might lead to collisions resulting in injuries or fatalities. According to a study by researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University, their approach can predict, based on near misses, the future number of fatal and injury crashes with 94% accuracy. Based on this information, road safety engineers can recommend safety plans for intersections that result in up to an 80% reduction in risk.
Taken on its own, that’s impressive. But, for a lot of cities, this represents a significant improvement from the status quo: reacting to an intersection that’s already demonstrated a pattern of crashes. Our proactive, verifiable data-driven approach can help identify where risk mitigation efforts can have the most impact – before injuries or fatalities happen. For cities and towns with Vision Zero targets and ambitious active transportation plans, this is a big deal.
It also comes at an opportune time, as road safety has become a priority backed by funding. For example, in the US, the federal government has committed $5 billion over the next five years through the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program to fund regional, local and Tribal initiatives to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries. Earlier this month, they announced this year’s funding: $800 million for 510 communities across the US.
With available funding and predictive traffic data, there’s never been a better time to make your roads safer.
Learn more about our new safety study solution
