14-05-2025
LiDAR technology helping provide ‘holistic picture of the roadway' in areas across Nashville
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Vision Zero Advisory Committee got an update about Nashville's ongoing collection and use of data from LiDAR technology.
On Tuesday, the Vision Zero Advisory Committee met for their regular meeting. Vision Zero is a Metro-wide initiative aiming for zero pedestrian deaths along Nashville's roadways. William Barbour, a senior research scientist and adjunct professor with Vanderbilt University, spoke before the committee to provide an update about how the LADDMS program could help achieve that goal.
MARCH: LiDAR technology identifies near-miss pedestrian crashes every day in North Nashville
The LADDMS program utilizes LiDAR and some video camera technology to analyze near-miss pedestrian crashes at intersections, including near the intersection of 24th Avenue North and Clarksville Pike in North Nashville. Barbour explained that the sensors return an anonymized view of all objects on the roadway, meaning that leaders can get a sense of cyclists, pedestrians, cars and buses in the roadway without recording personally identifying markers.
'This holistic picture of the roadway, we believe, is something extremely powerful because it addresses lots of different use cases,' Barbour said. 'Safety being a primary one.'
Barbour said that the technology recorded each instance when pedestrians did not use a designated crosswalk to cross the roadway. He added that he once sat at the same intersection for 12 hours and did not notice the phenomenon, so the technology was useful to identify otherwise-invisible patterns in pedestrian behavior. The data also let officials know to adjust infrastructure at the location to better meet the needs of pedestrians there.
In addition to learning more about near-miss pedestrian crashes in North Nashville, Barbour said that officials have used the technology to study the timing of traffic signals along Demonbreun Street. LiDAR has also been implemented on Shelby Avenue in East Nashville to look at the best design for bike lanes.
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'We certainly have ambition to do more with this. There is a whole list of pedestrian safety countermeasures from FHWA [the Federal Highway Administration] that are on our list that we would like to study as these things are rolled out across Nashville,' Barbour said. 'It's a very ripe opportunity for before and after studies to find out what works best and in what situations.'
Barbour added that they want to put the mobile unit in the 12 South neighborhood to study pedestrian crashes there next.
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