Estimating Speeds and Directions of Pedestrians in Real-Time Videos: A solution to Road-Safety Problem

Pedestrian injuries and fatalities are one of the most significant problems related to travel and road safety. Pedestrians are vulnerable users of roads and due to the very different velocities and mass when compared to vehicles like cars and trucks, and very often they undergo serious injuries in case of collisions. Older pedestrians are even more vulnerable to injuries and fatalities due to (i) their reduced mobility and reflexes and (ii) their increased fragility when compared to young individuals. Crosswalks are the point where pedestrians face lower level of safety because they have to cross the street and must be aware of the incoming traffic. Such kind of awareness becomes difficult in case of old pedestrians because of their reduced physical and perceptive capabilities. Besides other factors, lower speed of an old pedestrian is an important factor that limits the mobility of old pedestrians and it also increases the risk of fatalities while crossing the road. In this paper, we developed vision based intelligent system that can detect low speeds and directions of pedestrians and can help him/her by (a) increasing the time associated to a green light for pedestrians, (b) using audible signals to help the pedestrians understanding that there are cars approaching the crossing.

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