Morgan State researchers create alert system to save road workers' lives

After traffic crashes killed two Maryland road workers in a span of just four days last month, researchers at Morgan State University continue their work on a pilot work zone alert system. 

They are testing the Bear Alert, a multisensory system that can alert road workers to speeding or erratic drivers.

A team at Morgan State University's SMARTER Center is taking its skills to the streets to save lives.

"We want them to receive alerts, either by sound, by lights, or by this one, the buzzer," explained Mojtaba Naseri, a doctoral student at Morgan State University.

A multi-sensory alert system for workers

With Bear Alert, work zone operators receive multiple alerts engineered to cut through the noise and visual clutter of an active job site:

• An audible siren delivers a loud beeping notification across the site.
• A wearable haptic device delivers a vibration buzz felt even during heavy work.
• A flashing solar-powered beacon provides a visible warning from a distance.

Beyond real-time warnings, Bear Alert will collect traffic data. Researchers hope it can inform safety measures targeted to specific work zones, including traffic-calming strategies and additional enforcement in high-risk locations.

It starts with a lidar or a laser scanner that sends signals to a small sensor. It can detect how fast and where cars are going. It'll ping workers with three different alerts if there's a sign of danger.

"It has cameras, two lighter sensors," Naseri said.

"It has a 360-degree detection of any object that passes nearby. It can detect it," said Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani, a professor and the director of Morgan's National Transportation Center.

Dr. Mansoureh Jeihani, the director of Morgan's National Transportation Center, said her team began brainstorming in 2023 after a high-speed crash on Interstate 695, where construction workers tragically died. 

"After that, we were thinking about how we can make something– a new technology to help to save construction workers," Jeihani said.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 100,000 work zone crashes occurred across the United States in 2023, producing approximately 39,000 injuries. That same year saw 815 fatal work zone crashes resulting in 899 fatalities (a roughly 50 percent increase over 2013) and an estimated $39 billion in comprehensive crash costs.

The picture in Maryland is similarly troubling. The Maryland Department of Transportation recorded 6,701 work zone crashes between 2020 and 2024, resulting in 2,365 injuries and 50 fatalities. 

Researchers say the alerts will notify a worker if a car is speeding in about five seconds, giving the worker time to stop, look, and get to safety. 

Preliminary findings from the Hillen Road pilot

The SMARTER Center's first real-world deployment took place on Hillen Road near the Morgan State University campus, where the posted speed limit is 35 mph. 

According to data, over six weekdays of data collection, Bear Alert logged 50,821 vehicles passing the work zone. Of those, 288 vehicles traveled at 45 mph or higher, 83 vehicles traveled at 55 mph or higher, and 16 vehicles traveled at 65 mph or higher.

"They have time to react and then to run away. And usually the perception and reaction time for people is two and a half seconds, so they really have time to get away from danger," said Jeihani.

Although crash deaths dropped in 2025, according to data from the Maryland Department of Transportation, researchers believe Maryland could continue to change this data. 

"That's why we are here, about to make some differences and to save lives," Jeihani said.

A provisional patent is currently being pursued for the Bear Alert technology. The SMARTER Center will continue pilot testing and data collection on Hillen Road and is working to expand deployment to additional work zone sites across Maryland.

Morgan State has partnered with the Baltimore City Department of Transportation, the Maryland Highway Safety Office, transportation consulting firm Mead & Hunt, technology firm TS&T, and Stella May Contracting, a Maryland-based civil construction contractor, to deploy and test Bear Alert in real-world work zones.