Falls account for thousands of public transportation injuries every year, largely due to inadequate security, lighting, or safety measures. The problem is even more serious when considering older adults who are relying on mass transit at an increasing rate. In fact, falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults and it is estimated that 37,000 injuries requiring emergency medical care occur annually as older adults board and exit vehicles. As the nation’s aging population continues to rise – with 1 in every 5 Americans 65+ – safe and accessible public transportation options remain a top concern.
And despite transit numbers being down mid-pandemic, in November’s election, voters still approved more than a dozen proposals to increase spending on public transit to address maintenance, safety, and expansion issues. Ridership may be on a decline, but thousands of people daily – many of them essential workers – are still utilizing mass transit even as health and safety concerns and the remote work boom have driven many away.
The significant number of fall-related injuries inflicted on mass transit passengers annually warrants decisive preventative measures by transportation authorities. While fall prevention methods differ as every industry has its own specific hazards and standards, for mass transit, it is even more crucial that steps are taken to protect riders and their workers, including a fall-detection system that will signal an alert if any fall event should occur.
Today’s best fall prevention strategies advance transportation safety and mobility and enhance productivity by integrating advanced technologies into transportation infrastructure and even vehicles. Oyla contributes substantially to these efforts by accurately identifying and measuring the movement of objects in space and time and sharing that data with analytic and predictive algorithms. Transportation experts often rely on lane utilization, motorized and non-motorized vehicle count and classification, and observed behavioral analysis when configuring rail stations, roads, and intersections for optimal flow and safety. Having this data in real-time becomes critical to incident awareness and management, life safety, and effective traffic control measures.
Modern transportation infrastructure utilizes a number of sensor devices and technologies, most of these standalone in nature. Oyla uniquely fuses LiDAR and video in an affordable and easily installable form factor eliminating in large part the need for costly maintenance-intensive custom hardware. Oyla’s software technology also works with existing computer vision models and video pipelines further reducing deployment costs. Whether enhancing the safety of students in a school zone or detecting traffic turning into a busy crosswalk, the Oyla is perceptively different.
Oyla is dedicated to bringing affordable 3D, video, and AI solutions to organizations across the world, helping them detect issues before they become events.
Contact us today to learn more about how Oyla can help implement greater protection of a community’s people and assets. Watch Oyla in action with our cameras detecting pedestrians and vehicles.