CASE STUDY

Smart school zone teaching drivers to be more alert around crossings

Transport SAGE Automation

SAGE Automation : Nov 16, 2020

1 min read

Industry

Transport | Smart Cities

Outcome

SAGE developed a dynamic school zone sign for the City of Charles Sturt, that responds based on vehicle speed, pedestrian presence and time of day.

Capability

SAGE Edge, Solar power, RADAR Speed Detection, Ultrasonic Pedestrian Detection, LoRaWAN, Dynamically Controlled Variable Message Signage, SAGE Smart Cities Dashboard.

Region

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Background

School zones in South Australia are unique in that a 25km/h speed limit applies when children are present, placing the onus on drivers to identify pedestrians which can often result in low levels of speed limit compliance. Safety can be improved by providing direction and prompting drivers to reduce their speed.

SAGE considered the following to be the main issues:

Drivers not adhering to the 25km/h School Zone
Lack of safe road crossing opportunities
Lack of awareness of presence of a school
Traffic congestion
Driver behaviour near schools.

Solution

Increase speed awareness for motorists
Vehicle monitoring
Pedestrian detection bollards
Detect pedestrians and communicate detections back to the display signage.

Outcome

SAGE Automation designed, built and installed radars to standard school zone signage to detect vehicles approaching the school zone and their speed. A number of ultrasonic pedestrian detection bollards are also used to detect the presence of pedestrians within the school zone.

When pedestrians are detected within the school zone and an approaching vehicle is detected, a variable message sign located below the existing school zone signage will display a message to the approaching driver.