Enhanced Lighting Signals for Safety and Efficiency – Experiments with Addressable LEDs

Abstract: For enhanced roadway safety, clear and immediate visual cues are essential for preventing accidents between drivers and pedestrians. However, at intersections, the line of sight to other roadway users can often be obstructed by other vehicles and infrastructure. Other conditions, including low visibility, poor weather, or inadequate lighting can increase the potential for collisions. Additionally, distracted drivers and pedestrians can lead to further accidents – including those who are looking down at a smartphone, rather than keeping their attention on roadway surroundings. With all these conditions, pedestrians risk crossing the street without knowing when it’s safe to cross. These issues demonstrate the need for infrastructure upgrades that enhance visibility and awareness at crosswalks. A potential solution is through enhanced lighting signals integrated into the roadway infrastructure. One such example is the use of addressable LEDs, which are individually controllable lights that can change color and brightness instantaneously through programmable microcontrollers. They can be installed and integrated into crosswalks to maintain visibility in conditions where pedestrians may be difficult to see, while also offering peripheral cues to pedestrians who may be distracted by their phones or other objects rather than the road. Such a system (as one example) that is integrated into a traffic intersection digital twin that tracks all roadway users accurately, has the potential to enhance visibility of vulnerable road users, and thus enhance safety. This paper examines the potential implementation and feasibility of this technology, as well as the safety benefits it could provide. Laboratory experiments with addressable LEDs reveal the capabilities of this technology for roadway infrastructure safety, as well as challenges. These findings could pave the way for more integrated lighting in infrastructure for vehicles and pedestrians at intersections, merge and diverge locations, and other areas where complex interactions present safety hazards. Such lighting solutions, enabled by modern computation and communications, could enhance safety and efficiency in our transportation system and improve overall mobility.