Traffic monitoring and accident detection at intersections

We have developed an algorithm, referred to as spatio-temporal Markov random field, for traffic images at intersections. This algorithm models a tracking problem by determining the state of each pixel in an image and its transit, and how such states transit along both the x-y image axes as well as the time axes. Our algorithm is sufficiently robust to segment and track occluded vehicles at a high success rate of 93%-96%. This success has led to the development of an extendable robust event recognition system based on the hidden Markov model (HMM). The system learns various event behavior patterns of each vehicle in the HMM chains and then, using the output from the tracking system, identifies current event chains. The current system can recognize bumping, passing, and jamming. However, by including other event patterns in the training set, the system can be extended to recognize those other events, e.g., illegal U-turns or reckless driving. We have implemented this system, evaluated it using the tracking results, and demonstrated its effectiveness.