Reducing accidents and saving lives through intelligent road safety interventions.
Features • Installation • How It Works • System Architecture
Unpredictable accidents at U-turns and bends lead to frequent injuries, fatalities, and property damage. Traditional mirrors and signage are often insufficient due to blind spots, poor visibility, or driver negligence.
U-Turn Guardians is an intelligent monitoring system that tracks vehicles in high-risk areas using sensors and immediate visual alerts.
- Proactive: Detects vehicles before they enter the danger zone.
- Reactive: Flashes warning lights to oncoming traffic on the other side.
- Idle State: Maintains a safe (green) signal when no traffic is detected to keep flow moving.
- Real-time Vehicle Detection: Uses PIR (Passive Infrared) sensors to detect motion instantly.
- Cross-Alerting Mechanism: If a car is detected on Side A, the system warns drivers on Side B.
- Emergency Response Integration: (Planned) Alerting nearby medical aid for rapid response.
- Low Cost & Efficient: Built on Arduino Nano, making it affordable for widespread deployment.
The system employs a "Cross-Alerting" logic where sensors on one side trigger alerts on the opposite side.
- Sensor 1 (Side A) detects a vehicle -> Red LED 2 (Side B) blinks to warn oncoming traffic.
- Sensor 2 (Side B) detects a vehicle -> Red LED 1 (Side A) blinks.
- No Detection -> Both sides show Green (Safe).
graph TD
A[Start] --> B{Motion at Sensor 1?}
B -- Yes --> C[Blink Red LED 2 <br/>(Warn Side 2)]
C --> D[Turn OFF Red LED 1]
B -- No --> E{Motion at Sensor 2?}
E -- Yes --> F[Blink Red LED 1 <br/>(Warn Side 1)]
F --> G[Turn OFF Red LED 2]
E -- No --> H[Blink Both Green LEDs <br/>(Safe to Proceed)]
H --> B
graph LR
subgraph Driver Side A
OA[Driver A Approaches] --> DA{System Detects Motion?}
DA -- Yes --> WA[Warning on Side B]
end
subgraph Driver Side B
OB[Driver B Approaches] --> WA
WA --> AB[Driver B Stops/Slows]
end
subgraph Clear Road
NC[No Cars] --> GL[Green Lights on Both Sides]
GL --> PRO[Both Drivers Proceed]
end
- Microcontroller: Arduino Nano
- Sensors: 2x PIR Motion Sensors
- Indicators: LED Lights (Red & Green)
- Circuit: Bredboard, Resistors, Jumper Wires
- IDE: Arduino IDE
- Language: C++
- Simulation: TinkerCad
This 3D view shows the physical placement of components on the breadboard, making it easier to visualize the wiring.
This schematic provides a clear view of the pin connections for exact wiring.
Pin Connections:
- PIR 1: Pin 2
- PIR 2: Pin 3
- Green LEDs: Pins 8 & 10
- Red LEDs: Pins 9 & 13
- Open the u_turn.ino file in Arduino IDE.
- Select your board:
Tools > Board > Arduino Nano. - Select your port:
Tools > Port > COMx. - Click Upload.
- Monitoring: The system continuously reads data from two PIR sensors placed at opposite ends of a U-turn or bend.
- Detection & Logic:
- Case 1 (Car at Side A): Sensor 1 triggers. The system immediately flashes the Red LED on Side B to warn oncoming drivers to stop or slow down.
- Case 2 (Car at Side B): Sensor 2 triggers. The system flashes the Red LED on Side A.
- Case 3 (Clear Road): If no motion is detected on either side, Green LEDs blink on both sides to indicate the path is clear.
- Safety Loop: This loop runs indefinitely, ensuring real-time responsiveness.
- AI Integration: Using Computer Vision (YOLO) for more accurate vehicle classification.
- IoT Connectivity: sending crash alerts to cloud dashboards for traffic analysis.
- Solar Power: Making the units self-sufficient for remote highways.
| Competitor | Our Solution |
|---|---|
| Standard Mirrors | Active LED alerts (visible at night/fog) |
| Static Signage | Dynamic real-time warnings |
| Traffic Control Centre | Localized, instant standalone response |
This project is licensed under the MIT License.