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Alma, Michigan – Under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Advanced Transportation Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) program, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has been given $551,732 from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), marking a major step toward improving public transit safety. With this award, innovative thermal imaging cameras will be installed on public transit vehicles across Michigan, therefore offering vital safety for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists especially in low-visibility environments. The project places MDOT front and first in implementing innovative safety technologies for public transportation.
With the award, MDOT will be able to place these infrared cameras on about 60 transit vehicles in different settings—urban and rural. The Office of Passenger Transportation administrator of Jean Ruestman, MDOT, expressed optimism on the anticipated influence.
“We are very pleased to have received this grant from our federal partners to improve safety, which ultimately could be a game-changer for public transit agencies across the country,” said Ruestman. “While some high-end automobiles have thermal cameras, no transit vehicles currently have this technology, so my staff worked hard in researching this technology, making contacts and applying for this grant to make it a reality.”
Several transit agencies will participate in the initial phase of testing the technology, including Blue Water Area Transit, the City of Alma, the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan, and the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) with service provided by Indian Trails. Under challenging visibility conditions, including at night or during bad weather, the cameras will help drivers spot road users. For areas like Alma, which has both strong white-tailed deer population and heavy pedestrian activity, the technology becomes especially important.
“The City of Alma and our City of St. Louis, City of Ithaca and Pine River Township Authority (SLIPR) partners are excited to join MDOT in implementing thermal camera systems in our buses and vans. As a college town and a multimodal community with pedestrians, bicyclists and an ever-growing population of electric bicycles, unleashing this new technology will help prevent pedestrian/vehicle conflicts and save lives,” said Brett Baublitz, Alma Transit Center transportation director.
The effort also has potential to reduce accidents involving animals. Thermal cameras are projected to give drivers more reaction time, therefore lowering expensive car repairs and eliminating any service interruptions resulting from deer crashes in and near Alma.
“The City of Alma and surrounding service areas also have a large whitetail deer population. The thermal camera systems will save on vehicle repairs by detecting oncoming deer earlier to avoid crashes. This reduces vehicle downtime while maintaining accessibility to our riders by keeping our fleet on the road,” added Baublitz.
For this initiative, MDOT has worked with a number of important partners including Lynred, which supplies the thermal sensors utilized in Magna’s cameras, and Magna Electronics LTD., the manufacturer of the thermal imaging cameras. The review process of the project will be assisted by Menlo Innovations, an Ann Arbor-based software development company. The organization will examine each transit provider’s technology use on its own, generating comprehensive studies to highlight future best practices, identify possible problems, and describe future directions of development.
Thermal camera technology could significantly improve safety for vulnerable road users. For transportation authorities, pedestrian and bike safety has been a continuous issue on a national level. A recent advisory from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), titled “Safety Advisory 23-1: Bus-to-Person Collisions,” emphasizes the need for transit providers to implement measures that reduce the risk of collisions with pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. Data from the National Transit Database shows that between 2008 and 2021, collisions involving buses and passengers accounted for 15% of transit-related deaths, therefore highlighting the urgent need of better safety measures.
The application of thermal imaging technology fits the evolving patterns in public transportation safety projects, which progressively concentrate on preventative rather than reactive approaches. MDOT’s project could be a model for other states trying to include new technology into their safety initiatives as public transit agencies face specific challenges safeguarding pedestrians, bicyclists, and others.
This innovative project by MDOT represents an important step in guaranteeing that Michigan’s transportation systems stay among the safest in the nation. The agency will closely examine the results as the thermal cameras roll out on buses and vans in the next months to evaluate the possibility for more general application. Should the technology show success, it might result in increased usage throughout Michigan and maybe even national transit systems.
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MDOT is establishing a benchmark for transportation authorities across the nation by tackling safety issues with creative ideas. Looking toward a time when both drivers and road users may feel more safe on the road, Michigan’s transit agencies are now ready to pioneer this technology.