There is a need to investigate strategies to reduce pedestrian-vehicle crashes at intersections. The leading pedestrian interval (LPI) has been recommended as one strategy for reducing pedestrian-vehicle crashes at signalized intersections; however, there has been limited research to quantify the safety effects of the LPI. Site characteristics, traffic volumes, pedestrian volumes, and crash data were obtained for 10 signalized intersections where the LPI was implemented in State College, Pennsylvania. Similar data were obtained for 63 reference sites within the State College area. An empirical Bayes approach was incorporated in a before-after study design to evaluate the safety effectiveness of the LPI implementations. The aggregate analysis indicated a 37 percent reduction in pedestrian-vehicle crashes, which is significant at the 90 percent confidence level. A disaggregateanalysis indicated that crash reductions are significantly greater at intersections with larger pedestrian volumes. Given the low-cost of this strategy, a modest reduction in crashes is needed to justify their use. Based on the estimated safety effectiveness, the necessary crash reduction is easily achievable.
Samenvatting