Preventing road accidents with Wialon

Around 170,000 car accidents happened on the roads of the Russian Federation over the year of 2017 with more than 19,000 people dead and 215,000 injured. To reduce these sad numbers and cut down the carriers’ expenses, our partners from Global Position (ranking #1 in Wialon TOP 50) combined Wialon with ADAS solution called Mobileye. The complete solution proved to be effective in preventing road accidents and assisting the drivers of one of the largest transport operators of the region.

The problem

According to the researchers, 94% of accidents happen due to human error. In 85% of cases, the main reason is the driver’s carelessness within 2.5 seconds before a crash. The Mobileye solution allows preventing 90% of the accidents by alerting the driver and getting his attention back to the road in 1.5 seconds before a collision.

The client of Global Position wanted to reduce the rate of accidents and eliminate them, if possible. Upon thorough analysis, the client’s employees figured out the most frequent reasons for passenger buses to get into an accident: 

• Blind zones. The size of the blind zone of a long city bus can reach up to 16 meters. Even the super experienced bus driver can miss the car turning up out of nowhere;

• Falling asleep behind the wheel. Those working at night as taxi drivers, for example, can feel sleepy in the morning but need to go to work;

• Losing control over the driving situation. See the point above – drivers are humans too; 

• Reckless driving. Some people happen to drive dangerously once in a while, and some live to drive this way.

All these reasons cause the growth in the number of crashes that leads to the carrier’s bad reputation, higher insurance costs and increases in other types of expenses like payments to injured people and repair costs.

The solution

Global Position developed a complex Wialon-based solution solving all the client’s problems. They took on the task of finding out the perfect formula for accident prevention and driver assistance. Here it is:

Wialon + GPS tracker + Mobileye ADAS solution + “Antisleep” device 

And now let us dive into the details of what was installed inside the client’s buses.

Mobileye is the hardware and software system that uses a video sensor and special algorithms to detect and analyze traffic conditions. In other words, buses are equipped with cameras that: 

• Scan the road and define its users: here are a pedestrian, a biker, and a farmer driving his special machinery.

• Measure the speed and distance relative to other road users. If the bus is dangerously close to something or someone, the alert system warns the driver about it. Visual and audio signals seem to say “Easy-easy! Slow down! You don’t want to hit this pedestrian, right?”

• Locate the position of the bus within the traffic lane. This is for the drivers that are in two minds about in which lane to move and thus moving in two at the same time. 

As a result, Mobileye does everything that previously was the driver’s job:

• watches the lane markings, road signs, “blind” areas;

• gives a warning about the possibility to collide, hit a pedestrian or a bike rider, go out of the lane, etc.;

• manages full beam headlights;

• controls the safety distance.

“Antisleep” device is installed inside the driver’s compartment. It is another camera that monitors the driver, his well being and behavior. If the driver stops blinking, looks away, or tilts the head – meaning he falls asleep or is distracted – the alarm turns on right away. Trying to reach out for a pack of cigarettes that has just dropped to the floor? Trying to send a message approaching a bus stop at the same time? Not on this bus!

All sensors and other devices send the data to Wialon for analysis through Galileosky 7.0, a compact device with extended capabilities. This data helps to timely react to emergencies. Online notifications play a significant role here: the dispatchers working with the system notice the danger if any and can take steps to prevent tragedy. For example, they can call the driver and ask what is the reason for speeding for half an hour already because they see the alert notification about it on the screen. Apart from this, the client gets detailed reports on all the events that happened on the route. 

Judging from the number of violations, the driver gets a certain score. These scores create the driver rating showing who sticks to the road regulations and who needs to be punished for their recurrent violation.

The results

The client implemented the solution, and after four months it turned out that:

• total number of crashes, collisions, and accidents of other types fell by half. At the same time, fuel expenses reduced by about 10%;

• driver behavior and discipline improved by 100%;

• accidents expenses were cut down by 60% just because there were fewer accidents;

• insurance payments reduced by 55%.

Think this solution is worth trying? Write at marketing@gurtam.com, and we will put you in contact with its developer – Global Position will share their implementation experience firsthand. Meanwhile, we are waiting for your not less ambitious and inspiring Wialon projects. Write at the same old email or fill in the form on my.gurtam.com in “Marketing support” section.