LLM mulling adoption of ARIDS AI road accident detection system to improve rescue response time

The Malaysian highway authority (LLM) is reportedly considering adopting the Automatic Road Incident Detection System (ARIDS), an artificial intelligence-based system to detect road accidents in real time, on a wider scale, The Star reports. According to road safety expert Law Teik Hua, the system can facilitate quicker responses from first-responders to accidents.

The head of the road safety research centre at Universiti Putra Malaysia’s engineering faculty said the system is presently being trialled in a pilot phase at portions totaling 1,000 km on expressways and federal roads in Klang Valley and Kuching. “We have presented to LLM on the need to adopt it fully throughout Malaysia,” he said.

The mobile traffic management system allows remote access and can be accessed using a mobile phone, and runs continuously using Google traffic data to provide accident notifications as well as analyse traffic congestion data, including analysing whether traffic lights are functioning.

“The system detects accidents autonomously in real time as well as vehicle breakdowns and other traffic situations utilising neural networks,” said Law, adding that ARIDS users will be automatically notified of anomalies via WhatsApp, without the need of any human input.

When contacted, LLM director-general Datuk Sazali Harun confirmed that it is seriously mulling the full implementation of the system. “The UPM team, led by Law, made the ARIDS presentation to LLM on November 15. The effectiveness of ARIDS will need further study by LLM before any decision is made,” said Sazali.

Law, whose team developed ARIDS, said the fatal crash involving a container lorry in Simpang Renggam, Johor, on November 15 was detected by ARIDS at 7.46 am that day. “However, checks showed that the earliest official report from the North-South Expressway (Plus) Trafik X channel stated that the incident occurred at 8:09 am. If the crash was detected earlier, rescue response time would have been cut shorter, with better survival rates,” he said.

“Most accidents on highways in Malaysia are attended to based on CCTV monitoring by the respective highway concessionaire, or reports from users or highway patrols,” he added.

Law said that Brunei and the provincial capital city of Xi’an in China have also begun utiiising the Malaysian-made system in their bid to make their roads safer. Currently, the authorities in Xi’an are using it on roads covering 200 traffic lights in a pilot run. “Brunei has also implemented it for its capital city to fully monitor traffic light junctions and also detect accidents and abnormalities,” he said.

Quicker accident detection needs to be paired with more stringent inspections on heavy vehicles, especially by concessionaires at the entry points of closed-toll networks. Law said current laws do not permit concessionaires to do so, hence the reliance on enforcement authorities. He added that analysis of crashes observed by the system showed the need for sturdier guardrails on highways, which currently can only withstand the impact from smaller vehicle crashes.

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