PEDESTRIAN CROSSWALK STUDY: ACCIDENTS IN PAINTED AND UNPAINTED CROSSWALKS

THIS IS A REPORT OF A STUDY OF PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE AT UNSIGNALIZED INTERSECTIONS AND WHETHER IT IS LESS IN MARKED OR UNMARKED CROSS-WALKS. ACCIDENT EXPERIENCE COVERING A 5-YEAR PERIOD WAS STUDIED AT 400 INTERSECTIONS, EACH HAVING ONE MARKED AND ONE UNMARKED CROSSWALK CROSSING THE MAIN THOROUGHFARE. IN ADDITION, PEDESTRIAN AND VEHICLE TRAFFIC CHARACTERISTICS WERE STUDIES TO DETERMINE THE PEDESTRIAN'S RELATIVE USE OF MARKED AND UNMARKED CROSSWALKS AND HIS EXPOSURE TO VEHICULAR TRAFFIC. THE RESULTS SHOW THAT DURING THE 5-YEAR PERIOD 177 PEDESTRIANS WERE HIT IN THE 400 MARKED CROSSWALKS COMPARED WITH 31 PEDESTRIANS HIT IN THE 400 CORRESPONDING UNMARKED CROSSWALKS. THIS INCLUDED 18 FATALITIES IN THE MARKED CROSSWALKS VERSUS 3 FATALITIES IN THE UNMARKED CROSSWALKS. IN GENERAL, THE STUDY SHOWED THAT, WITH ALLOWANCE MADE FOR THE NUMBER OF PEDESTRIANS USING THE CROSSWALKS, APPROXIMATELY TWICE AS MANY PEDESTRIAN ACCIDENTS OCCUR IN MARKED CROSSWALKS AS IN UNMARKED CROSSWALKS. EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT THE POOR ACCIDENT RECORD OF MARKED CROSSWALKS IS NOT DUE TO THE CROSSWALK BEING MARKED AS MUCH AS IT IS A REFLECTION OF THE PEDESTRIAN'S ATTITUDE AND LACK OF CAUTION WHEN USING THE MARKED CROSSWALK. RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE INSTITUTION OF A PEDESTRIAN EDUCATION PROGRAM AND LIMITATION OF CROSSWALKS TO ONLY THOSE LOCATIONS WHERE THEY ARE WARRANTED. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/hrr/1972/406/406-001.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Pedestrians. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Herms, Bruce F
• Conference:
  • 51st Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1972-1-17 to 1972-1-21
• Publication Date: 1972

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1-13
• Monograph Title: Pedestrian protection
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 406
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash rates; Crosswalks; Intersections; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Road markings; Streets
• Old TRIS Terms: Traffic marking
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00221904
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-012 258
• Files: HSL, TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Feb 23 1983 12:00AM