Motorists often fail to yield to pedestrians in marked multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations. Several studies have demonstrated that the use of advance yield markings along with a yield here to pedestrian sign can reduce the threat of multiple threat crashes but only have a small effect on overall driver yielding behavior. Several studies, including a recent NCHRP/TCRP study have demonstrated that the use of the HAWK signal can significantly increase the percentage of motorists yielding to pedestrians at uncontrolled marked crosswalks. This device produces high compliance because it includes a red phase and a flashing red phase similar to the signals used at Fire Stations. Although this signal is highly effective its high cost limits its use to particularly risky crosswalks. A lower cost alternative to the HAWK signal is the use of amber LED flashers with an irregular flash pattern. This treatment was installed at two multilane crosswalks in Miami Beach Florida under FHWA permission to experiment as part of an FHWA Cooperative Agreement to evaluate ITS treatments to increase yielding behavior. A reversal design was employed in this experiment to demonstrate experimental control at each site. This design involves alternating sessions when the signals were activated with sessions when the device was not activated. The results showed that the LED flashers installed on the pedestrian sign produced a marked increase in yielding behavior at both crosswalks and that similar data were collected from staged pedestrians and local residents using the crosswalks. Data also indicated that the use of the device produced a reduction in evasive conflicts between drivers and pedestrians at both sites and a reduction in the percentage of pedestrians trapped in the center of the road at the crosswalk without a median island.
Abstract