Council presses staff on data, software and privacy for Norwalk safety platform

Council members used the committee hearing on Aug. 6 to probe how the proposed Norwalk traffic-data platform will function and what protections will be in place.

Council member Nicole Ayers asked whether the data could be used to guide policymaking. Nell, the transportation director, said the platform includes crash categorization and location filters (for example, identifying top angle-crash intersections) and could support citywide mitigations or ordinances. "So, 1 of the highlights specifically... was showing the types of crashes, showing what's most common," she said, describing examples of actionable insights.

Members also asked whether the consultant would build a software front end and provide predictive or "what-if" modeling. Nell said the consultant will develop a customizable, website-like interface that the city will own and maintain; she was less definitive about advanced predictive modeling, saying the capability "might be possible" and dependent on further scoping with the vendor. On privacy, Nell said turning-movement cameras classify object type and are not able to read license plates or identify faces, and reiterated that the city will own the data and control access.

Committee members asked for assurances on timelines and for staff to scope the platform's analytic and privacy specifications during contracting.