Pedestrian Safety System for Home Renovation

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Pedestrian Safety System for Home Renovation

Quaywe

13 posts

Geek

#198582 14-Jul-2016 20:37

I'm applying for resource consent to renovate my home. The reason for the resource consent is because I'm proposing to build a garage right near the front boundary of the property due to their being limited space for the garage to go anywhere else. The Council is concerned about pedestrian safety - i.e. if I'm driving out of my garage that is so close to footpath I might run over a passing pedestrian. They want me to move my garage back further (essentially they want me to eat into my already small hour to make the garage sit further back). I'm trying to come up with an alternative approach to moving the garage door by implementing a simple technology based solution that will help me detect pedestrians approaching the garage entrance when I'm driving out. My ideas so far are:

- Some sort of CCTV system - cameras under the eves pointing at the footpath - with a TV screen on the back wall of the garage. The screens and camera could activate when the garage door is opened.

- Some sort of sensors on the outside walls of the garage facing the footpath that trigger when a pedestrian walks past. A light in the garage would illuminate when triggered (only activates when the garage door is opened).

- The less technical approach (but might not work in a 2 car garage) - dome mirrors mounted high on the inside of the garage either side of the door allowing the person reversing out to look into them and see a pedestrian coming.

So if anyone out there has any of their own ideas of what could work, and/or what vendors out there could help me with such solutions please advise. I'm in the central suburbs of Auckland.

Thanks

1 | 2

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1592782 14-Jul-2016 20:40

Why not a simple "Vehicle Exiting" sign that illuminates when you open the garage door

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1592799 14-Jul-2016 20:56

Your first option sounds the easiest, simplest and probably most effective.
Two cheap IP cameras, a cheap Chinese NVR, a cheap TV from the warehouse.
The NVR is just to make it easy to hook up the cameras to a TV and set up a split screen view.
Then maybe the only tricky bit is make the tv turn on when the door opens. Maybe an arduino with a IR blaster on it that triggers the tv when the door opener activates.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1592800 14-Jul-2016 20:58

macuser:

Why not a simple "Vehicle Exiting" sign that illuminates when you open the garage door

Because I'm guessing that the people council will be most worried about being run over are kids who can't read "vehicle exiting" signs and are too small to be seen.

I suspect that there's very little chance of Council granting consent for a new road-front opening garage in any residential zoned area. I doubt that tech devices will sway them at all.

Is there room to put it in sideways and a have a driveway/turning area in front?

Quaywe

13 posts

Geek

#1592816 14-Jul-2016 21:47

chevrolux: Your first option sounds the easiest, simplest and probably most effective.
Two cheap IP cameras, a cheap Chinese NVR, a cheap TV from the warehouse.
The NVR is just to make it easy to hook up the cameras to a TV and set up a split screen view.
Then maybe the only tricky bit is make the tv turn on when the door opens. Maybe an arduino with a IR blaster on it that triggers the tv when the door opener activates.

@chevrolux - thanks for the suggestions. Any idea where I might obtain this stuff? Re the auto activation - I'm hoping an electrician might be able to connect the switch for the garage door opener also to the CCTV and TV.

Quaywe

13 posts

Geek

#1592817 14-Jul-2016 21:49

Fred99:

Because I'm guessing that the people council will be most worried about being run over are kids who can't read "vehicle exiting" signs and are too small to be seen.

I suspect that there's very little chance of Council granting consent for a new road-front opening garage in any residential zoned area. I doubt that tech devices will sway them at all.

Is there room to put it in sideways and a have a driveway/turning area in front?

@Fred99 - Council has indicated they are interested in the CCTV option (along with me increasing the width of the garage door and making sure fencing outside the garage doesn't obstruct the sideways views outside the door).

You're right though that a "vehicle exiting" sign won't fly. The solution has to help me know someone is there, not the pedestrian know someone is coming out.

MadEngineer

4291 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1592821 14-Jul-2016 22:03

Would they accept a flashing warning light like they use in warehouses for when forklifts are in operation?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#1592990 15-Jul-2016 11:06

Quaywe:

Fred99:

Because I'm guessing that the people council will be most worried about being run over are kids who can't read "vehicle exiting" signs and are too small to be seen.

I suspect that there's very little chance of Council granting consent for a new road-front opening garage in any residential zoned area. I doubt that tech devices will sway them at all.

Is there room to put it in sideways and a have a driveway/turning area in front?

@Fred99 - Council has indicated they are interested in the CCTV option (along with me increasing the width of the garage door and making sure fencing outside the garage doesn't obstruct the sideways views outside the door).

You're right though that a "vehicle exiting" sign won't fly. The solution has to help me know someone is there, not the pedestrian know someone is coming out.

Council should be thinking about helping the pedestrian know when someone is coming out - I guess that's why they're talking about fencing etc - not just that it obstructs your view of them, but their view of you. What about my suggestion of rotating garage 90 deg so that doors are at right angle to the frontage? If that could work and allow you a turning area, then also solves a problem of having to reverse out onto the road, council might also allow you to have the front side of the garage right on the boundary (ie without setback of 1m or whatever).

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

jonb

1771 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1592994 15-Jul-2016 11:12

It's ridiculous as pedestrians are much more likely to be injured by cars zooming out of the end of long driveways than exiting a kerbside garage at 5mph.

cctv system sounds good, if it is acceptable to council.

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3423 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1593001 15-Jul-2016 11:22

Your car already comes with a device to alert pedestrians to your presence.

It can usually be activated by pressing the centre of the steering wheel.

Stupid council.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

Amosnz

567 posts

Ultimate Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1593009 15-Jul-2016 11:32

What if you reverse into the garage and drive out forwards, thus being able to see pedestrians? Also means the screen on the back wall of the garage would be of little use.

Speedtest

Quaywe

13 posts

Geek

#1593012 15-Jul-2016 11:38

You all all right; it's ridiculous that Council enforces rules like this. I currently have a 2.1m fence on the side of my property and a 1.8m fence on the front of my property and park in exactly the same place now as I will once the garage is built. None of this needs consent. How are pedestrians safe then? I look in my mirrors and reversing camera when I back out!

Bottom line is Council is trying to cover their backsides. If they consented a build that wasn't optimised for pedestrian safety and then a pedestrian got hit some lawyer has told them they could be liable. I'd love to see the stats on how many pedestrians are being hit now from properties/drivers that don't meet the standards they are asking me to meet. This is really a solution looking for a problem, and meanwhile it significantly increases time and cost for me to build. No wonder we have a housing crisis.

Wheelbarrow01

1725 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Chorus

#1593014 15-Jul-2016 11:41

What about an audible alarm and flashing light that activate via motion sensor when the back of the car breaks a beam of light across the garage doorway - similar to the alarm and light used by airports when they activate the baggage carousel?

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

afe66

3181 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1593039 15-Jul-2016 11:47

Yes that will work fine for the child running down the footpath......

A.

BlueShift

1692 posts

Uber Geek

#1593042 15-Jul-2016 11:50

Barrier arms that come down like a railway level crossing when your garage door opens.

Disrespective

1926 posts

Uber Geek

#1593048 15-Jul-2016 12:01

kiwifidget:

Your car already comes with a device to alert pedestrians to your presence.

It can usually be activated by pressing the centre of the steering wheel.

Stupid council.

That's ridiculous. You can't expect him to honk his horn every time he drives out of his garage, his neighbours will slash his tyres after a few weeks of that.

That said, the council's position will be that any solution should still work as well with the OP as it would with any future owner. I'll be interested to see what they are OK with if it gets approved.

1 | 2