In 1962, Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation started the construction of an inter-city expressway in order to relieve traffic congestion in Osaka and Kobe. At present, Hanshin Expressway stretches 166 km. However, since it cuts directly through the metropolitan area, traffic accidents sometimes occur at certain sharp curves in the route. The AWAZA curve, where we installed the automatic accident detection system by image processing technology, has a high accident rate. The accidents which occur at places where there are obstructed views like the AWAZA curve may cause double or triple rear-end collisions. Such big accidents often paralyze traffic in the metropolitan area. Before the installation of this system, it took about fifteen minutes to report an accident, because it was usually reported manually by emergency call or patrol radio. The new system can shorten the period to only two seconds. Furthermore, two seconds after the recognition, a warning message can be displayed on the information board set above the road 200m before the side entrance of the curve. As a result, drivers can avoid rear-end collisions. The traffic control center is informed of an accident within two seconds and can then monitor the scene which is automatically displayed on the VIDEO screen. Ambulances and tow cars can then be alerted.
Abstract