A locally developed app is using Bluetooth beacon technology to attempt to reduce pedestrian deaths.
More than 7,000 pedestrians were killed in the United States because of crashes involving motor vehicles in 2020, which is about one death every 75 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To mitigate these statistics on campus, researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham developed an app called StreetBit, which sends auditory and visual warnings to a distracted pedestrian’s smartphone as they approach a street corner where Bluetooth beacons are installed.
A new study co-written by five UAB researchers suggests that the app is cost-effective by providing a template of how existing data sources can be leveraged to do cost-benefit analyses for any interventions designed to enhance pedestrian safety.
“We hope the template developed in this study can facilitate large-scale implementation of any intervention designed to prevent pedestrian fatalities and injuries by providing policymakers with information on the net benefits of the intervention,” said Jillur Rahim, first author of the study and statistician II in the School of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Organization. “The findings can lead to significant cost savings for the states and, most importantly, save pedestrian lives by facilitating large-scale adoption of such programs.”
Researchers analyzed pedestrian injury and death rates, expected costs per injury and prevalence of distracted walking and estimated that StreetBit or similar interventions can potentially save between $18 million and $29 million annually in Alabama. That could yield an estimated net annual benefit of $11.8 million for the state.
Co-investigators include first author Rahim, David C. Schwebel, university professor in the UAB Department of Psychology; Ragib Hasan, associate professor in the UAB Department of Computer Science; Russell Griffin, associate professor in the UAB Department of Epidemiology; and Bisakha Sen, professor and Blue Cross Blue Shield endowed chair in the UAB Department of Health Policy and Organization.
