Escalating trends in pedestrian and cyclist fatalities points to a pressing need to improve traffic safety, especially for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters. A key challenge in enhancing intersection safety is the lack of accurate, detailed, and real-time data that captures the complexities of these dynamic and uncertain environment. If intersections themselves could "see" the diverse array of vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and scooters, each with unique movement patterns and safety needs, this could vastly improve safety. Making intersections "smart" by equipping them with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology that can capture a detailed and real-time 3D environment could facilitate the accurate detection of vehicles and other road users, to better control signal timing and assist future connected vehicles (CVs) and/or connected automated vehicles (CAVs) in driving safely.