Intelligent Transport System road safety trial

A budget of $2.5 million has been allocated for this project:

The project is jointly funded by the Australian Government and Northern Territory Government.

• Australian Government: $2 million
• Northern Territory Government: $500,000

Smart technology offers significant potential to deliver effective road safety solutions and its role in managing road networks continues to expand. DLI aims to move beyond relying solely on traditional infrastructure solutions and capitalise on the benefits and advantages of smart technology solutions.

Persistent safety concerns, such as pedestrians and drivers failing to comply with traffic signals, pedestrians crossing at unpredictable undesignated locations and drivers not yielding to pedestrians, call for smart technology-driven solutions.

The traditional road infrastructure is effective if it is used in its intended manner. Often it does not cater for road users’ non-compliant and unsafe movements.

This project will trial road safety smart treatments beyond traditional methods. It will be focused on motorists as the system will be designed to alert motorists in advance about the presence of pedestrians within the traffic lanes, medians and verges.

The location has been chosen on the basis that there has been a total of 21 crashes for the 10-year period between 2016 and 2025, resulting in 3 serious injuries and 2 pedestrian fatalities.

Current and future residential, retail and commercial development nearby is expected to increase pedestrian movement in the area.

The ITS treatment is not intended to replace the traffic signals at the intersection.

The ITS treatment is being trialled to provide an enhanced road safety solution to address unsafe road user behaviours at the intersection and along the approaches.

This smart solution provides additional road safety treatments on top of the traffic signals.

The ITS does not replace the NT road rules (Traffic Regulations 1999). Pedestrians are required to obey the road rules, including crossing at signalised crossings.

The ITS is not expected to noticeably disrupt traffic flow or create congestion.

The ITS will continuously monitor the road environment and only activate the roadside devices to alert traffic when a pedestrian is detected. At all other times, traffic will flow normally.

The ITS will be trialled for 12 months and include ongoing evaluation throughout the trial period.

If the evaluation demonstrates that the trial is effective in improving the safety of and reducing the risk to pedestrians, the system may be deployed at other high-risk locations on a case-by-case basis.

The ITS uses light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-based detection, supported by CCTV, to identify pedestrians and vehicles entering the monitored zone.

The LiDAR sensors detect the presence, position and movement of people and vehicles. They do not capture images, faces or number plates and cannot identify individuals — the detection data is anonymous.

CCTV cameras record video and are used only to commission (set up and calibrate) the system and to review specific safety events. The cameras are not monitored continuously and are not used to identify individuals.

Privacy is protected through the following measures:

• CCTV footage is retained for 120 days and then automatically overwritten.
• All data is stored securely in Australia within the Northern Territory Government data centre.
• Cloud-based monitoring of the system is read-only.
• The system does not perform facial recognition or automatic number-plate recognition.
• Information is used only for the ITS trial, including detecting pedestrians, refining the system design and evaluating effectiveness.

LiDAR and CCTV systems will be used solely to improve road safety and will not be used to issue traffic infringements.

LiDAR sensors detect and track road user movements without collecting identifiable information such as photographs, faces or licence plates, enabling the system to identify hazardous interactions and activate safety warnings. CCTV cameras support system commissioning, calibration, monitoring and the investigation of crashes and near-misses, helping to verify system performance, understand road user behaviour and assess the effectiveness of safety treatments.