The overall research objective was to evaluate changes in pedestrian safety and traffic efficiency from installing pedestrian countdown timers. The study analysed pedestrian behaviour and safety before and after the installation of a trial countdown timer at the intersection of Queens Street, Bunny Street and Margaret Street in Lower Hutt in July 2007. The results were compared with the 2006/07 trial at the Queen Street/Victoria Street intersection in Auckland CBD and showed very different results. The Auckland city trial indicated that, if placed in suitable locations, pedestrian countdown signals were associated with pedestrian behaviour change that enhanced safety. This study in Lower Hutt demonstrated that the observed pedestrian safety decreased as the percentage of both late starters and late finishers increased, although this was likely to be due to the nature of the intersection with one particularly long diagonal crossing coupled with the allocated phase times. In contrast, perceived pedestrian safety increased with the installation of the countdown timers. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting