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Effects of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons on Yielding at Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-10-043
Date: September 2010

Effects of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons on Yielding at Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks

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FOREWORD

The overall goal of the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Program is to increase pedestrian and bicycle safety and mobility. From better crosswalks, sidewalks, and pedestrian technologies to growing educational and safety programs, the program strives to make it safer and easier for pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers to share roadways.

This study was part of a larger FHWA research study to quantify the effectiveness of existing and new engineering countermeasures in improving safety and operations for pedestrians and bicyclists. This effort involved data collection and analysis to determine whether these countermeasures increased driver yielding to pedestrians. In this study, the safety effectiveness of the rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) for pedestrians was evaluated using a before-after time-series analysis.

This report will interest engineers, planners, and other practitioners who are concerned about implementing pedestrian and bicycle treatments as well as city, State, and local authorities who have a shared responsibility for public safety.

Monique R. Evans

Director, Office of Safety

Research and Development

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

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Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No. FHWA-HRT-10-043	2. Government Accession No.		3 Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle Effects of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons on Yielding at Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks			5. Report Date September 2010
			6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s) Jim Shurbutt and Ron Van Houten			8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address Western Michigan University Psychology Department 3700 Wood Hall Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5439			10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
			11. Contract or Grant No. DTH61-01-C-00049 Task Order #25
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Office of Safety Research and Development Federal Highway Administration 6300 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101-2296			13. Type of Report and Period Covered Technical Report: October 2007–September 2009
			14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes The Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) was Ann Do, HRDS-07.
16. Abstract The rectangular rapid-flashing beacon (RRFB) device is a pedestrian-activated beacon system located at the roadside below side-mounted pedestrian crosswalk signs. This study examined the effects of the RRFB at uncontrolled marked crosswalks. Several methods have been examined to increase driver yielding to pedestrians at multilane crosswalks at uncontrolled locations with relatively high average daily traffic (ADT). Previously, only treatments that employed a red phase have consistently produced sustained high levels of yielding at high-volume multilane crosswalks. A series of five experiments examined the efficacy of RRFBs. These studies found that RRFBs produced an increase in yielding behavior at all 22 sites located in 3 cities in the United States. Data collected over a 2-year follow-up period at 18 of these sites also documented the long-term maintenance of yielding produced by RRFBs. A comparison of RRFBs to a traditional overhead yellow flashing beacon and a side-mounted traditional yellow flashing beacon documented higher driver yielding associated with RRFBs that was not only statistically significant, but also practically important. Data from other experiments demonstrated that mounting additional beacons on pedestrian refuge islands, or medians, and aiming the beacons to maximize its salience at the dilemma zone increased the efficacy of the system, while two other variants were not found to influence the effectiveness of the system.
17. Key Words		18. Distribution Statement
19. Security Classification (of this report)	20. Security Classification (of this page)		21. No. of Pages	22. Price

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 3. EXPERIMENT 1

CHAPTER 4. EXPERIMENT 2

CHAPTER 5. EXPERIMENT 3

CHAPTER 6. EXPERIMENT 4

CHAPTER 7. EXPERIMENT 5

CHAPTER 8. SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND DISCUSSION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

REFERENCES

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Photo. RRFB with two forward-facing LED flashers and a side-mounted LED flasher

Figure 2. Graph. Yielding compliance for three conditions during nighttime observations at the third site at 1st Street and 37th Avenue S

Figure 3. Graph. Mean yielding percentage for each condition

Figure 4. Photo. Northbound view of standard overhead beacon system and crosswalk at 58th Street N with advance yield markings

Figure 5. Graph. Driver yielding behavior at the 58th Street N site

Figure 6. Graph. Relative efficacy of the side-mounted yellow beacon at the 4th Street S site

Figure 7. Photo. Perpendicular lighting (left panel) and Direct Aim® lighting (right panel)

Figure 8. Graph. Yielding compliance for experiment 4 located at 4th Street and 18th Avenue S in St. Petersburg, FL

Figure 9. Graph. Yielding compliance during the baseline and the RRFBs at the crosswalk alone versus the RRFB at the crosswalk plus the RRFB at the advance sign

Figure 10. Graph. Average yielding percentage during the RRFBs at the crosswalk alone and the RRFBs at the crosswalk and on the advance sign

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Average yielding compliance per condition including follow-up for each site

Table 2. Average percentage of drivers yielding in each distance category for each experimental condition

Table 3. Characteristics at each of the treatment sites

Table 4. Florida data estimates of treatment effect parameters and associated t-ratios and p-values

Table 5. Baseline and follow-up yielding data at sites in Florida, Illinois, and Washington, DC

Page Owner: Office of Research, Development, and Technology, Office of Safety, RDT

Topics: research, safety, pedestrians, intersection
Keywords: research, safety, pedestrians, rectangular rapid-flashing beacon, yielding to pedestrians, multilane crosswalks, unsignalized intersection
TRT Terms: research, safety, communication and control, control, control system applications, traffic signal hardware, traffic signal controllers, actuated traffic signal controllers, pedestrian actuated
Scheduled Update: Archive - No Update needed

This page last modified on 03/08/2016

Effects of Yellow Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons on Yielding at Multilane Uncontrolled Crosswalks

FOREWORD

TABLE OF CONTENTS