It’s a tragic fact that distracted driving kills: in the US alone, 3,166 lives were lost in 2017 to collisions where at least one driver was distracted. Governments around the world are clamping down on cell phone use behind the wheel, but despite the laws and risks, many people continue to drive while messaging.
With the advent of new smart road signs, there are now ways to detect phone use and flash warnings to distracted drivers.
These signs can be used in many different ways, but their main function is to detect phone use and flash warnings to distracted drivers. The signs can do this because they have been programmed with artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. The sign will then send a signal back to the driver’s phone that will alert them that they are using their phone while driving, causing them to become distracted. This is great for helping people avoid getting into accidents or even being pulled over by police officers for using their phones while driving.
This technology has been around for some time now but has recently become more popular due to its ability to help drivers avoid using their phones while behind the wheel. The signs work by detecting when someone is using their phone while driving and sending them an alert so they know it’s happening without having any kind of visual or physical warning on the road itself.
The dangers of distracted driving can be seen everywhere, and the problem is only getting worse. Distracted driving is the cause of one in three crashes involving injury, according to a 2015 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In 2017 alone, there were 3166 lives lost to collisions where at least one driver was distracted. While many countries have laws limiting cell phone use while driving and educating people on the risks involved with distracted driving, it’s still happening across all ages and genders.
Researchers from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute have come up with a new way to cut down on distracted driving. The team has developed smart road signs that can detect drivers using their phones and flash warnings in an attempt to make roads safer for everyone.
The system uses cameras mounted on the sign’s poles. They take pictures of passing cars and compare them against a database of images stored in memory. If you’re holding your phone up to your face, it will be flagged as suspicious activity by the cameras’ software and trigger flashing lights or messages designed to get your attention back on the road ahead of you.
“Our sign flashes a ‘no texting zone’ message when it detects drivers using mobile devices,” explains research co-author Michael Manser, who developed the system with colleagues at the University of Michigan and Virginia Tech. “The goal is to get drivers’ attention and remind them or inform them that texting is not permitted there.”
If you’re thinking that this probably isn’t much of a problem where you live, think again. In all 50 US states and some other regions, it’s illegal to text while driving. But clearly, that isn’t enough. The National Safety Council says 1.6 million crashes each year are caused by people texting while they drive.
Conclusion
The team is still working on making the system more effective. They want to make sure that it can detect whether drivers are using their phones or not, and they also want to get people off their phones by flashing warnings in places where texting isn’t prohibited by law. The signs could be used anywhere there’s an issue with distracted driving: highways, schools, and even private businesses looking to reduce accidents on their premises.
The new smart road signs that have been popping up in cities around the world are designed to detect when a driver is distracted by using their phone. When the road sign detects that a driver has been using their phone, it will flash a warning on the screen for them to put their phone down. The warning stays on the screen until the driver is no longer distracted.
- How to stop drivers from being distracted while driving?
The days of driving down the highway, totally distracted by your phone, may be numbered.
New smart road signs detect phone use and flash warnings to distracted drivers. The movement to ban cellphones while driving has been gaining momentum over the last few years. New laws have been passed in several states, but many drivers still aren’t getting the message that distracted driving is dangerous. Now a new technology developed by researchers at Michigan State University could help change that. They’ve created a device that can detect when someone is using their phone while driving and send them a warning message via flashing lights on their windshield.
