Someone to Watch Over You: Using Bluetooth Beacons for Alerting Distracted Pedestrians
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In the United States, an estimated 7,005 (crude rate 2.13) pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This statistic is currently increasing annually and research suggests that distraction by smartphones may be a primary reason for the increasing number of pedestrian injuries and deaths. Timely interruptions may alert inattentive pedestrians and prevent fatalities. To this end, we developed StreetBit, a Bluetooth beacon-based system that warns distracted pedestrians with a visual and/or audible interruption when they approach a potentially dangerous traffic intersection while distracted by their smartphones. We posit that by using StreetBit, we can educate distracted pedestrians and elicit behavioral change to reduce or remove smartphone-based distractions when they enter and cross roadways. To demonstrate the feasibility of StreetBit, we conducted a field study with 385 participants. Results show that the system demonstrates adequate feasibility and behavior change in response to the StreetBit program.
Source: IEEE Internet of Things Journal
Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Language: English
Topic: Traffic and Road Safety
Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Collaborative Research: CICI: Secure and Resilient Architecture: Data Integrity Assurance and Privacy Protection Solutions for Secure Interoperability of Cloud Resources, SaTC: EDU: Digital Forensics Education for Judicial Officials, Using Bluetooth Beacon Technology to Reduce Distracted Pedestrian Behavior, SCC-PG: StreetBit: A Bluetooth beacon based System for Alerting Distracted Pedestrians in Urban Environments, CAREER: Secure and Trustworthy Provenance for Accountable Clouds
OpenAlex ID: W4285300772