Master's Project: IoT Applications for Road Accident Prevention

This capstone project investigates the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) to mitigate road accidents, a growing concern due to factors like driver fatigue, reckless driving, and poor road conditions. The project begins with an introduction outlining the problem and objectives, followed by a problem statement that identifies key issues such as driver impairment and road hazards. Research questions are formulated to guide the investigation into how IoT-enabled cars can minimize accidents and their future implications. A comprehensive literature review examines existing research, highlighting studies on driver fatigue detection using IR sensors and the use of MEMS sensors for monitoring driver behavior. The findings are analyzed to identify gaps in current research, such as the need for more comprehensive prototype development and experimental validation. The project proposes IoT-based alert systems that monitor driver alertness and vehicle safety, offering potential solutions to reduce accidents. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and suggests future research directions in this critical field. The project follows the required structure for a Master's Capstone Project, including an introduction, problem statement, research questions, literature review, findings, gaps, and conclusion.

Running head: IOT FOR RESTRICTING ROAD ACCIDENTS
IOT FOR RESTRICTING ROAD ACCIDENTS
Name of the student:
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Author Note:

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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
2.0 Problem statement................................................................................................................2
3.0 Research Questions..............................................................................................................3
4.0 Literature Review Findings..................................................................................................3
5.0 Gaps....................................................................................................................................12
6.0 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................13
7.0 References..........................................................................................................................14

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1.0 Introduction
The main purpose of this assignment is to deal with the innovation of the field of
technology driven cars that tends to minimize the number of the road accidents, which may
occur in modern times. The aspect of the assignment revolves round the fact that the road
accidents are heavily increasing in numbers due to the lack of the human awareness as well as
traffic disorder that might occur within the field of the road accidents in the near future. This
report will thrive to put an effective focus on the reasons regarding which the road accidents
are increasing day by day as well as search for the best methodologies through various
research works on the same field to reflect the research work in this area. This research work
will be proceeding by the help of enhanced focus areas on the fields of gaps that may be
focused in the future research methodologies that can be directly related to the previously
accomplished research questions. Moreover, the report will also tend to put an enhanced
focus on the collection of the critical data that will help for carrying out the research
procedure effectively.
2.0 Problem statement
The issues or problems that is depicted through the primary research that led to the
usage of the Internet of Things technology within vehicles for restricting accidents are
depicted as the following:
 Reckless driving by humans at night or some other significant factors such as drink
and drive, nausea or tiredness of the drivers that will led to the accident.
 Issues in the roads where the car is travelling such as bumps or potholes that are not
adhered by the drivers and this can result in the accident of the vehicles.
 Problems with the recovery of the car that has already met with an accident.

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3.0 Research Questions
The primary questions that is being focused in respect to the report that deals with the
usage of the IoT in the vehicles for the restriction of the accidents.
1. How will the IoT implemented cars restrict or minimize the road accidents that are
increasing in the modern times.
2. The future implication of the IoT based accident preventive measures be helpful in
regards to the necessary authorities.
The above stated questions will be justified in the latter part of this report thus adhering
different articles on the provided topic. Moreover, after assessing the articles the probable
gaps that are identified within the Literatures will also be clearly stated in the further part of
the report.
4.0 Literature Review Findings
According to Marimuthu et al., 2017, the primary focus of the authors is in the
situation of the driving at night, which increases the chance of accidents to happen with
respect to the cars. This situation is depicted as one of the tricky situations that leads to the
maximum number of accidents in these modern times. This situation are observed to be
gradually increasing due to the movement of the heavy amount of the vehicles day by day.
The drivers of the vehicles are forced to drive without having adequate amount of rest, which
result in the inefficient performance of the drivers (Raina & Gondhi, 2018). This situations
lead to the fatigue of the drivers causing to the minimization of the active reflexes of the
drivers that are driving the cars. Through research depicts that most of the accidents happens
due to the fatigue of the drivers, which causes their reflexes to be decreasing. The authors of
this article has focused in this areas with the proposal of developing a system that will be well
capable for the detection of the fatigue of the drivers driving the cars and tends to stop the car

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immediately thus minimizing the chances of accidents within the environment of the society
that are increasing due to the reason highlighted in the article. Moreover, driving of cars
within the growing crowded environment of the roads due to increasing vehicles as well as
poor conditions of weather has being observed as a serious issue for the sooth driving of the
cars (Liang, 2015). The haste for reaching the required destination for the cars increases the
chances of accidents in modern times due to the reasons stated above. However apart from
the above stated reasons, the most significant reason depicted by the authors in this articles is
stated to be the fatigue of the drivers that are constantly driving the cars (Arce-Plevnik,
Cohen & Shor, 2016). Fatigue of the drivers has been observed to lower down the active
reflexes of the drivers that may cause the accidents to happen. This is due to the fact that the
reflexes of the drivers does not cope with the driving of the car. This loss of the reflexes
makes the driver incapable to detect the accidents that may occur in the near future. This type
of conditions tends to increases the happening of accidents with the modern environment thus
resulting in the loss of human life as well as causing heavy injuries to the drivers as well as
the persons present within the car at that time (Govindarajulu & Ezhumalai, 2018). Many
governments has taken up measures that adhered the road as well as vehicle safety of the cars
encompassing the issues related with the safety. The article states that a recent survey carried
out all over the world depicts that 70 % of the road accidents happening now a day happens
due to the reason of the dizziness as well as tiredness of the drivers. This type of situation
results in over speeding thus resulting in the loss of the driver’s attention, which further ends
up with the accidents. The article firstly focuses on the methodology of detecting the fatigue
of the drivers, which will be identified by using a technology driven mechanism in
association of Internet of Things (Castillo O'Sullivan & Thierer, 2015). The technology that
is identified or focused within this article involves the fact of using the IR sensors, which will
possess the capability for detecting the drowsiness as well as tiredness of the driver that is

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driving the car (Ghosh et al., 2017). In this type of situation, the IoT enabled sensor will also
alert the driver as well as alert the emergency mechanism of the car and the driver to stop the
car. The significant identification methodology that will be used by the sensors will be
focusing primarily and importantly on the simulated behaviour of eye blinking of the drivers.
This will be identified and detected by a representation based on the terminology of Gabor,
which will develop a dynamic image of face of the driver thus monitoring the human fatigue.
This methodology will capture the images with the help of the remotely situated cameras that
uses the mechanism of charge - coupled device, which will be illuminated by the use of the
infrared lights (Nasr, Kfoury & Khoury, 2016). The condition of fatigue will be identified by
these sensors focusing on the movement of the eyelid, gaze as well as head in accordance to
the expression of the faces. The article sets to propose a system that will perform the overall
detection procedure of fatigue thus alerting the driver as well as car to stop which will further
reduce the chance of accident that are increasing in modern times (Zantalis et al., 2019). The
mapping of the skin colour as well as extraction of the features will carry out the face
detection mechanism. The images that are acquired by the cameras set within the car for the
detection of the tiredness of the drivers. The images are then converted into gray scale images
where the position of the eyes as well as eyelids will be matched. If this match is successful
then no alert will be provided but in case there arises a mismatch in both the images then the
alert mechanism of the car will be triggered providing the information for the stop of the car
thus avoiding the situation of accident in respect to the car, which is associated with this type
of mechanism (Al-Sakran, 2015). Moreover, when the driver is detected with fatigue an alert
or buzzer will be turned on which will alert the driver to stop the car for restricting the
chances of accident. The alert mechanism also comprises of a simulation that tends to vibrate
the overall seat of the driver thus to provide the driver with an alert further stopping the car.
This mechanism of IoT enabled alert system will also be provided with smart features that

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will detect the level of threat, which tends to cause the accidents. This feature will be
comprised of three main levels that will state the usage of the alert systems in accordance to
the fact of restricting the accidents (Chaudhari et al., 2019). Thus it can be depicted the usage
of the alert systems that are significantly described in this article provides an enhanced level
of security for the minimization of the road accidents that are caused due to the fatigue as
well as loss of active control by the drivers on the overall car. This methodology will be very
helpful as these primarily detects the gaps or flaws within the humans that tends to cause big
road accidents.
According to Huang, Zhang & She, 2018, another major aspect that is being identified
as the cause of the road accident is the usage of mobile phones as well as consumption of
drinks by the driver, which will result in the loss of the control of the drivers concern in
regards to dive within the city premises. In this case, the accident, which the driver will be
meeting up, is said to be more harmful (Preethi & Prasad, 2019). For this reason the articles
proposes a system of alert that will restrict the driver to start the car in case any of these acts
are identified with the help of the identification mechanism preinstalled in the car. The
infrared sensors will tend to capture the gaze direction of the driver thus alerting the car to
stop down immediately (Krishnan & Balasubramanian, 2016). This mechanism will be
implemented with the usage of the IoT technology within the car that will detect the
movement of the head of the driver thus providing an alert call to the driver with respect to
the alert mechanism that is structured within the car. This article also depicts the alert
mechanism to be displayed in the LCD display of the car in which the level of severity of the
driver’s health will be provided and in regards to these, the alert system will be carried out for
the restriction of the car meeting up an accident. The prototype for the development of this
type of alert mechanism is well stated in the article as proposed by the authors but the
prototype is not experimentally described within the article (Devare et al., 2016). The

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proposal of the alert system is an enhanced mechanism that will adhere all the possibilities of
the driver’s health, which should have to be adhered by the driver for restricting the accident
situations. The usage of the MEMS sensor by the authors for the development of the alert
mechanism is depicted as a unique as well as significant methodology for the detection of the
driver’s health fatigues as well as alcohol level within the body of the driver (Atlam, Walters
& Wills, 2018). After the detection of these issues within the body of the driver, the alert
mechanism will automatically stop the car with the activation of the alert mechanisms present
within the car. This will be very helpful for restricting the car to face any accident that may
occur as a cause of these issues. The alert mechanism may also be going through a refresh of
service as well as be updated from time to time for the proper detection of the issues
associated with the driver in case of any road accidents that may happen due to the issue of
the driver in regards to the consumption of alcohol as well as using the mobile phones in the
driver’s seat (Patrono, Rametta & Stefanizzi, 2017). In association to the reason of the
driving after consuming alcohols also detects the ethical as well as legal issues that must be
detected and the driver has to be punished. This is due to the fact that the laws of major
countries depicts the fact that drinking and driving is against the law as this lets the life of
both the human communities present within the car as well as the pedestrians in danger.
These legal issues must be highlighted by the detection system and highlighted to the nearest
police group for the betterment of the humans thus restricting any such type of irresponsible
road accidents.
According to Madli et al., 2015, a major aspect regarding the cause of an accident due
to the presence of humps as well as potholes in the road where the car is travelling is depicted
in the article. This article puts a great emphasis on the fact of the road accident that is caused
due to the accidental occurrence of the humps or potholes within the road where the car is
travelling. If the car is depicted to be at a great speed and for some instances if the

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concentration of the driver is hampered then there remains a major chance of meeting up the
car with an accident (Dar et al., 2019). This article significantly identifies a mechanism that
will primarily detect the occurrence of a type of potholes or humps in the course of the road
where the car is heading (Aloul et al., 2015). The main purpose of this detection mechanism
lies in the fact that the road where the car is traveling must free of humps as well as potholes
as these can be very vulnerable and prone the car to meet up with an accident. This
mechanism deals with the adherence of some basic IoT technologies within the detection
system of the humps as well as potholes. These mechanisms may be stated as the usage of the
GPS methodologies within the tracking system of the car that will detect the upcoming
humps as well as potholes in the track of the car (Sujatha et al., 2018). This GPS mechanism
tends to detect the upcoming humps as well as the potholes within the track of the car. After
the GPS mechanism have had detected any of these obstacles within the road it will send an
alert to the driver for maintaining an awareness for overcoming this obstacles which will
further result in the minimization of the accidents regarding the car. The article also depicts
the research work that is being carried out by various researchers regarding the traffic
congestion in many countries that leads to the non-detection of this type of humps or potholes
within the track where the car is travelling. This article deals with the detection of the
pavement distress and the techniques that the researchers are trying to detect the best possible
methodology for detecting the humps in the overall track of the roads. This methodology
intends to use a kinetic sensor, which will be using the RGB camera in addition to an IR
camera for detecting the potholes as well as humps. Moreover, the IR sensor will also detect
the depth of the hole or the height of the humps and accordingly alert the drive of the
upcoming obstruction like this (Yaqoob et al., 2017). This methodology is depicted as one of
the significant methodologies within the environment of IoT based safety mechanism and
restriction of the car accidents in the near future (Srinivasan et al., 2016). The proposal of this

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methodologies are enhanced by the usage of the MATLAB analysed environment which
dedicates to perform better results for the detection of these kind of humps as well as potholes
in the track of the car. This will result in the active awareness of the drivers for the detection
of the potholes or any such kind of obstructions that are upcoming in the further track where
the car is travelling. Moreover, the article also depicts the usage of a Wi-Fi enabled system
within the vehicle, which in collaboration with the GPS mechanism will enhance the car to
collect information regarding the road as well as provide the live feed in a display that will be
provided to the driver in a real time basis. This will help the driver to be aware of the fact that
there might be obstructions thus can prevent any bad situation, which may end up with an
accident situation. Moreover, the article also depicts the usage of the sensors, which will
sense the records of the vertical as well as horizontal accelerations regarding the route of the
vehicles (Temkar, Asrani & Kannan, 2015). This is depicted as a cost effective solution in
regards to the inclusion of the GPS enabled device within the car for the information as well
as quality of the roads in which the car is travelling. The main usage of the GPS feature that
is embedded within the car is the detection of the corresponding coordinates for the tracking
of the potholes as well as humps, which may occur within the upcoming track of the cars.
The Sensor cameras detect the obstructions as well as pavement distress, which will be
coming in the track of the movement of the car thus alerting the driver for changing the
course of the car or to be aware of the fact that there are obstructions on the way. The laser
imaging cameras detect the specification of the obstructions smartly, which will help the
driver to be safe while driving the car. These images will be constantly provided in the
display present within the car thus helping the driver to restrict the emergence of an accident.
The various components that are generally used for the development of this type of
mechanism are depicted as the PIC 16F877A Microcontroller, Ultrasonic Sensors HC –
SR04, GPS Receiver and GSM SIM 900 (Thierer & Castillo, 2015). The Microcontroller

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possess an 8k program memory that will help the sensor drivers to provide an alert to the
driver. This is a very low cost device as well as widely available easily for which it is used
widely for the development of these type of systems. The ultrasonic sensor possesses a
transmitter and a receiver that is supposed to measure the distance of any kind of obstruction
thus providing an alert to the driver about the obstruction. These sensors are depicted to be
very useful for the detection of the distance as well as angle of the obstructions within the
roads that may cause accidents. Moreover, the usage of the GPS receiver is to come up with a
clear evaluation of the presence of potholes as well as humps in the roads. The last device
that is proposed to be used is depicted as the GSM device, which provides the driver to be
facilitated with the send, as well as receiving of the text messages in case of any emergency
that might occur regarding the occurrence of the humps in the tracks of the car (Miranda et
al., 2018). The article critically depicts the proposed model for the development of the system
using the stated devices for the minimization of the road accidents in the modern times. This
system as stated before will possess the capability of measuring the essential constrains such
as the distance of the obstructions, the height of any hump the depth of any pot hole that may
persist in the road and can be an easy prone to the road accidents.
According to Gaffar & Kouchak, 2017, the implementation of the IoT in respect to the
laws and regulations associated with the restriction of the accidents within the environment of
the modern daytime in various countries. The law as well as legal constraints associated with
the reckless driving in various countries differ from the others. Thus, the proposed
methodologies that will adapted by the governments of the various countries is to be adhered
by the automobile companies that manufacture the cars. These laws are to be specifically
assessed for each countries and then the automobile manufacturing companies should design
their cars in accordance with the legal terminologies of the laws so that there remains no gaps
in respect to the legal issues associated with the road accidents (Guerrero-Ibanez, Zeadally &

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Contreras-Castillo, 2015). Moreover, many countries are present in the overall world that
formally provide driving license to the physically challenged persons after checking
thoroughly that the person is quite capable of driving. Every country in this world possesses
the legal rules that are to be followed by the drivers in respect to the traffic laws as stated by
the government. Besides this, the driver should also have the responsibility for the obeying
this rules for preventing any kind of accidents that are prone to happen for not obeying this
type of rules. These rules or laws are to be adhered by the automobile industries in regards to
the manufacture of the cars. Moreover, the laws or rules that are adhered by the governments
of different countries for restricting the accidents are stated to the laws that are specifically
made for the drivers, who are driving the cars. The drivers should follow these laws while
they are driving a car.
According to Thomas et al., 2016, there is another important aspect that deals with the
IoT enabled safety of the cars that is post an accident has already happened. The article states
an emergency feature that will be very helpful for the car as well as the persons present
within the car. This emergency feature deals with the overall aspect of the situation that is
concerned post an accident has happened. The device that is associated with this alert
message regarding the post accidental situations is stated to be very helpful in accordance to
the accidents happening in certain places where the availability of the hospitals is less or the
hospitals are located very far away from the spot of the accident (Rupesh et al., 2018). The
main purpose of the device as proposed within this article is to alert the service centre of the
car, the emergency contact number as well as the emergency police station number that will
be pre-linked with the car. The contact details of the various emergency personnel such as the
sectors as stated above is to be saved previously within the device. This device will start its
working when the car has met with a breakdown or accident. In case of a car breakdown the
device will ask the driver of the car by displaying an alert message whether to alert any