A collision avoidance safety system for a vehicle for transporting and/or lifting loads, comprising a central control unit and at least one image acquisition and processing peripheral unit operatively connected to the central control unit, wherein the central control unit and the at least one image acquisition and processing peripheral unit can be installed aboard said vehicle and wherein the image acquisition and processing peripheral unit comprises: - an image sensor; - an image processing unit operatively connected to the image sensor; - a communication interface operatively connected to the image processing unit; wherein the image acquisition and processing peripheral unit is adapted and configured to: - acquire an image stream through the image sensor and process said acquired image stream through the image processing unit to produce a processed image stream; - transmit the processed image stream to the central control unit through the communication interface; wherein the image acquisition and processing peripheral unit is further adapted and configured to: - identify at least one visible person or object in the acquired image stream either transiting or arranged within at least one detection area; - produce the processed image stream, wherein each image of the processed image stream is obtained by superimposing on a respective image of the acquired image stream a morphological or geometric box or outline which identifies said person or said object within said image; wherein the central control unit comprises a screen to display the processed image stream; characterized in that said at least one detection area comprises a first detection area and a second detection area and wherein the peripheral image acquisition and processing unit is adapted and configured to distinguish whether said person or object is located within the first detection area or within the second detection area and associate a corresponding area identification datum with the processed image stream. - an image sensor; - an image processing unit operatively connected to the image sensor; - a communication interface operatively connected to the image processing unit; wherein the image acquisition and processing peripheral unit is adapted and configured to: - acquire an image stream through the image sensor and process said acquired image stream through the image processing unit to produce a processed image stream; - transmit the processed image stream to the central control unit through the communication interface; - acquire an image stream through the image sensor and process said acquired image stream through the image processing unit to produce a processed image stream; - transmit the processed image stream to the central control unit through the communication interface; wherein the image acquisition and processing peripheral unit is further adapted and configured to: - identify at least one visible person or object in the acquired image stream either transiting or arranged within at least one detection area; - produce the processed image stream, wherein each image of the processed image stream is obtained by superimposing on a respective image of the acquired image stream a morphological or geometric box or outline which identifies said person or said object within said image; - identify at least one visible person or object in the acquired image stream either transiting or arranged within at least one detection area; - produce the processed image stream, wherein each image of the processed image stream is obtained by superimposing on a respective image of the acquired image stream a morphological or geometric box or outline which identifies said person or said object within said image; wherein the central control unit comprises a screen to display the processed image stream; characterized in that said at least one detection area comprises a first detection area and a second detection area and wherein the peripheral image acquisition and processing unit is adapted and configured to distinguish whether said person or object is located within the first detection area or within the second detection area and associate a corresponding area identification datum with the processed image stream.