Mobile App offers proactive approach to road safety
Through its global entrepreneur programme, multinational technology and consulting group IBM launched a new vehicle alert system and mobile application (App), called Road Buddy, on July 22, in Sandton, Johannesburg.
Designed in collaboration with engineers at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Road Buddy intends to address the growing need for a more proactive approach to road safety for road users.
Independent road safety consultant Gary Ronald highlighted at the launch that, globally, road traffic accidents take the lives of nearly 1.24-million people every year while also causing injuries to about 50-million people a year.
“Statistics in South Africa show that 10 845 road accidents are fatal and result in a R307-billion, or 7.8%, estimated cost to the economy each year. Without action, road traffic accidents are predicted to result in the deaths of around 1.9-million people each year by 2020. “The Automobile Association in South Africa says at least 40% of all fatalities and injuries involve pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, making them the most vulnerable road users,” he said.
Owing to these statistics, Road Buddy inventor Werner van der Westhuizen said during the launch that Road Buddy worked by transmitting warning signals from more vulnerable road users, such as cyclists, motorists, joggers, emergency vehicles and pedestrians, to vehicles, trucks, emergency vehicles and buses
– much in the same way as a geographic positioning system signal delivers a voice command, an audio warning such as ‘Warning! Bicycle approaching!’ coupled with a visual representation of the approaching object to warn the motorist of surrounding and potentially vulnerable pedestrians or cyclists appears on the user’s smartphone if the App has been downloaded.
“Road Buddy is built on IBM’s SoftLayer Cloud model, which enables IBM to offer the service on a global scale, allowing it not to be limited to one country,” he said.
IBM ecosystem development manager Clayton Booysen pointed out that the Road Buddy system was the first invention to be powered by IBM’s SoftLayer Cloud model. The model gives enterprise-quality cloud infrastructure as a service and includes optimisation, efficiency, storage and security at a scalable price point as some qualities that will enhance the growth of the App being powered by the model.
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