A new automated traffic enforcement company wants to put an end to stop sign ignoring in America using artificial intelligence. The company was inspired by the personal tragedy of its founder’s accident with a striper on US roads.
Last month, New York-based startup Stop For Kids announced it would expand its road safety-as-a-service model to communities across America. Local authorities would then be able to install the company’s AI cameras at high-traffic stop signs for free. The company will recoup its fee by taking a portion of drivers’ fines – but founder Kamran Barelli hopes the model won’t make him rich.
“I’m praying for the day when we have to go out of business because everyone is quitting,” Barelli said. “That will be our ultimate goal. I’ll be the first one cheering when we have to take the cameras down because everyone is quitting (where they should).”
Kamran and his brother and co-founder Kiyan are the first to admit that this goal will not be easy to achieve. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there are about 700,000 stop sign crashes in the U.S. each year, and one-third of those crashes result in injuries.
Among those victims were Kamran’s wife and children, who were struck in 2018 when an inattentive driver ran a stop sign and struck the young mother as she pushed a stroller on a sidewalk-less Long Island street. Barelli’s family survived — the couple’s son was miraculously unharmed — but they were thrown “about 60 feet” and his wife had to relearn how to walk, he said.
That horrific incident made the Barelli family aware once again of how many drivers in their community were endangering other road users at intersections – and how difficult it was to get them to stop. Emails from the community asking drivers to hit the brakes were largely ignored. When the city put up digital speed signs, teenagers competed to see who could pass them faster, they say.
“The only thing that worked was if a police officer was hiding at the intersection and handing out tickets,” Kamran said. “Unfortunately, they can’t be there 24/7 – and the fact is that within a few hours of leaving the scene of the accident, everyone is WhatsApped again, telling the community that the police are gone, so they keep going despite the stop sign.”
This did not sit well with either of the Barelli brothers, who grew up in Zurich and had experienced first-hand the power of the country’s famous automated surveillance system. But while the Swiss fine their speeders millions of dollars a day and take photos of red-light offenders every day, fewer resources are available in their adopted hometown of Saddle Rock.
“Everyone (in Zurich) rides a bike and uses public transport; over the years, some streets have been made car-free,” Kiyan added. “We come from the mentality that cars need to slow down and drive safely and that we need to respect pedestrians when they want to cross the street.”
The Barellis, both veterans of the technology industry, decided to develop their own AI-powered camera that could be installed in less than an hour and would work in any weather. When they introduced the prototype in Saddle Rock two years ago, they said only three out of 100 cars reliably stopped at the line; however, within 90 days of the cameras being operational, compliance rose to 85 percent. Today the number is 95 percent, and neighbors throughout the area have requested four more.
The brothers argue that the success is linked to the accuracy of their product, which has a false positive rate of less than 0.06 percent and can be set to give leniency to drivers who drift a few inches over the line or roll ahead after two seconds instead of three. (“Honestly, nobody really stops perfectly and according to the rules,” Kamran laughed.) To protect the privacy of residents, faces, vehicle models and even license plates are anonymized and automatically deleted unless the AI detects a violation, which is sent to the local traffic authority, and drivers who Do People who violate the law will receive a QR code along with their ticket to access the footage.
Municipalities can also choose to issue warnings to drivers on their first offense, while being aware that the cameras are monitoring the vehicle. However, both brothers say municipalities don’t need a camera on every corner to get drivers throughout the municipality to hit the brakes.
“We’ve seen that other stop signs are now being observed by drivers, even without enforcement. … Our goal is not to penalize drivers or cause all these violations,” Kamran added. “The idea is to give neighborhoods and school zones the tools they need to make their streets safer.”
The Barellis hope these features will set their product apart from other stop sign cameras on the market, which tend to rely on flash technology that can disturb neighbors and produce less accurate results. A single camera in Washington, DC, for example, made headlines for raking in $1.3 million in two years. Some residents claimed they received tickets even when they stopped for three seconds.
Such inaccuracies can lead citizens to believe that cameras are a shabby money-making scheme rather than an important tool for traffic safety, especially when cities and camera manufacturers use the money from violations to fill their coffers while stop sign violations continue. The Barellis argue that their company’s pricing structure And Mere success in curbing lethal behavior can help ease these fears – and they point out that any fines imposed Do The resources collected could be channeled into other prevention strategies, such as infrastructure.
“Something needs to be done,” Kamran added. “People are running red lights and there needs to be consequences. But I think it should be done in a way that doesn’t cost anyone money. The approach should be to raise awareness and improve driving behaviour – (and it’s working).”
