With an objective to enhance the safety of vulnerable road users, London and Madrid have launched a pilot project through 20 partners across Europe including city councils, public transport operators, and logistic and construction companies.

The project, which will be carried out in two parts, will provide an opportunity to address the problem from two sides at once.

As first part the project, the intelligent detection system Cycle Safety Shield will be installed to prevent collisions with cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists in the blind zones, where drivers are simply not able to see them.

"By implementing these technologies, the project partners expect to achieve safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians."

The solution is already installed across number of fleets in UK that include Amey Group and Sainsbury's Supermarket.

Richmond Council cabinet member for highways and streetscene Councillor Peter Buckwell said: “Through this trial we will be able to see if we can help to reduce the risks to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

"If the trial is successful and cost effective, we can look to roll out the system, or similar systems, further.”

In the second part, the project will take advantage of the telematic system called My Alert, which extracts big data on the avoided collisions, such as location, time, type of the road user and video.

The second part of the project would be beneficial to the city traffic planners and public transport authorities that will help them to identify potentially dangerous places, and conduct preliminary analysis on what may cause these near-collision situations.

In addition to the big data, My Alert software presents an instant Google Image view, so that if there is a simple pothole, for example, the problem could be rectified before it causes an incident.

By implementing these technologies, the project partners expect to achieve safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians.

The partners involved in the pilot project are Transport for London, RATP, City of Belfast, EMT Madrid, First Group, L'Hospitalet City Council, Baixbus, City of Helmond, and Van den Broek Logistics.

The project is also supported by Translink, Break Charity, Go-Ahead, Amey Group, Sainsbury's Supermarket, Ealing Council, Richmond Council, TransportNI, Murrills Construction and Hope Construction Materials.

In December this year, an independent organisation will publish its findings based on the collected data in respect to the number of the collisions avoided.