A new watchdog has been created to keep a close eye on major intersections in the Salt Lake Valley region.
It's called “LIDAR,” short for Light Detection and Ranging. The technology uses eye-safe laser light to measure the distance and movement of cars, pedestrians and cyclists, and explores ways to make intersections safer and more efficient for everyone.
Currently, only two intersections are fully operational for riders: 5900 South and State Street in Murray, and 2100 South and Redwood Road in Salt Lake City, near the Glendale Golf Course, according to the Utah Department of Transportation.
But there are plans for expansion: The next intersections to go fully operational with the technology will be at the 700 East and 1300 South in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park neighborhood, and at the 300 West and 600 North in the Marmalade neighborhood.
What exactly does LIDAR do?
The technology works similarly to echolocation, which allows bats to detect sounds around them.
The laser beam targets and recognizes what is happening at the intersection and recreates it in 3D, allowing you to investigate the 3D view to see how and where near-misses are occurring, if the green light time is too short, if the pedestrian crossing time needs to be increased, and more.
Utah currently has three other methods for monitoring traffic signals that fall short of LIDAR, according to Mark Taylor, a traffic signal operations engineer for UDOT: induction loops, video and radar.
Induction loops, which are highly accurate but have difficulty detecting cyclists and pedestrians, work by installing wire systems on the sidewalk at intersections to detect vehicles, Taylor said.
Video surveillance detects vehicles by detecting changes in pixels in an image, but this method falls short when shadows or weather conditions such as heavy rain obscure the camera.
In Utah, radar is the most common method for detecting vehicles, Taylor said, but lidar is more accurate, able to detect vehicles 99.8 percent of the time.
Read the full story at sltrib.com.
This story is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of Utah news organizations dedicated to reaching readers across the state.
