An advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) and method for a vehicle utilize a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system configured to emit laser light pulses and capture reflected laser light pulses collectively forming three-dimensional (3D) LIDAR point cloud data and a controller configured to receive the 3D LIDAR point cloud data, convert the 3D LIDAR point cloud data to a two-dimensional (2D) birdview projection, detect a set of lines in the 2D birdview projection, filter the detected set of lines to remove lines having features that are not indicative of traffic signs to obtain a filtered set of lines, and detect one or more traffic signs using the filtered set of lines.