At the University of Georgia Student Government Association Senate Committee meeting Tuesday, the different committees, Auxiliary Services, Educational Affairs, External Affairs and Student Life, met as individual groups to discuss current initiatives, bills and important issues.
“There’s a couple of things that the senators are pushing towards, definitely late night safety on campus, that includes transportation as well as pedestrian safety,” vice president Jacob Fucetola said.
James Everson, an at-large senator for student affairs, said something he has been working on, with regard to transportation, is trying to get an idea of using computers, computer learning and artificial intelligence to control and network the traffic system on campus.
Everson said the UGA Department of Computer Science and UGA Auxiliary Services told him such technology already exists, although it is not widely implemented.
The senator reportedly met with the head traffic engineer for Athens-Clarke County Unified Government on Oct. 27, and the county is working to implement a program that utilizes 360-degree cameras at major intersections.
There is a fisheye camera with a 360-degree lens installed at the intersection of Lumpkin Street and Baldwin Street, he said, which could be used for things such as keeping a traffic light from turning yellow for an extra few seconds so drivers do not have to make the decision of braking hard or running through the light.
“Eventually they are going to get to a point where that program can actually be used to its full potential, once they’ve got all of the new hardware installed and infrastructure,” Everson said. “They have to run fiber optic cables to all of the traffic signals to be able to hard-wire them into their network.”
Steve Decker, an engineer with the traffic engineering division of Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, said the camera is a replacement system for the former method of placing loops within the pavement. It allows more flexibility for adjustments and making sure the system is accurately picking up cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
“It’s a lengthy process to do,” Decker said. “When we resurface a roadway, instead of putting the loops back, we put this new camera in.”
Decker said traffic signals are actuated by the amount of traffic. When a vehicle comes into the camera’s detection zone, it notifies the traffic controller that cars are waiting to turn. It also counts the vehicles and gives the ability to re-time traffic signals based on the data.
Decker said the camera does not capture enough detail for facial recognition or license plate identification, and the feed is not recorded. In essence, he said, it makes traffic intersections more efficient, by allowing the traffic engineering department to collect data without sending a person to the location.
“We used to use a minimum of four cameras at an intersection, and now it’s one camera that does everything,” Decker said.
Decker said the Georgia Department of Transportation has provided Athens-Clarke County with roughly $256,000 dollars worth of signaling software and equipment and eight cameras at $15,000 a piece. Decker said the technology, and continued expansion of Athens-Clarke County fiber optic cable communications, will help to increase traffic analysis.
In the long term, he said, it could reduce delays and accidents.
“Realistically the time that it takes to get all this together, to make things work, we’re looking at three to five years before we see a major change,” Decker said.
Everson referenced the Campus Transportation and Parking Assessment survey that was sent out to all UGA affiliates on Tuesday. The study, which is projected to take roughly 11 months, will inspect current transportation operations at UGA and develop new ways to make these methods more effective.
Currently the areas that are being targeted by the study are Best Practices, Analysis of Supply and Demand and Financial Analysis and Implementation Plan.
“Once the feedback is received from that, and they’ve worked on those issues, then it will probably transition to figuring out a way to revamp or redo the bus routes and the transportation system to make it more efficient,” Everson said.
