Evaluating Pedestrian Safety Countermeasures

Because crashes involving pedestrians tend to be sporadic events that do not occur at the exact same location, a one-size-fits-all approach to mitigating pedestrian safety problems is unrealistic. To help shed light on which countermeasures will be most effective at specific types of locations, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) initiated pilot projects in Las Vegas, NV, Miami, FL, and San Francisco, CA. The study looked at the effectiveness of various safety engineering and intelligent transportation systems-based countermeasures installed at target intersections in those cities. The main goal was to demonstrate how a city can improve safety by performing a detailed analysis of its pedestrian crash problem, identifying and evaluating high-crash locations, observing factors such as driver and pedestrian behavior, and deploying various countermeasures tailored to the site. Over the 6-year study, each city identified problem locations, selected and installed countermeasures, and evaluated the impact on pedestrian safety. Field teams consisting of city staff, university researchers, and other local partners in the three cities assessed the impacts of the countermeasures through self-evaluations. At the conclusion of the self-evaluations, FHWA completed a study that brings together the findings from the States’ evaluations and contains crosscutting analyses of those countermeasures deployed by more than one of the field teams. FHWA researchers looked at measures of effectiveness (MOEs) related to pedestrian and driver behavior. By comparing MOEs across the three cities’ sites, FHWA determined seven highly effective countermeasures: leading pedestrian intervals, pedestrian countdown signals, in-street pedestrian signs, activated flashing beacons, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, call buttons that confirm the press, and Danish offsets combined with high-visibility crosswalks, advance yield markings, and “Yield Here to Pedestrians” signs. Despite mixed results due to the wide range of real-world variables, the project demonstrated that implementing carefully planned and targeted countermeasures can help improve pedestrian safety. The study also generated guidance for selecting, installing, and educating the community on countermeasures.

• Record URL:
  • http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/11marapr/03.cfm
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1586080
• Authors:
  • Redmon, Tamara
• Publication Date: 2011-3

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 16-19
• Serial:
  • Public Roads
  • Volume: 74
  • Issue Number: 5
  • Publisher: Federal Highway Administration
  • ISSN: 0033-3735
  • Serial URL: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Countermeasures; Evaluation and assessment; High risk locations; Intelligent transportation systems; Intersections; Measures of effectiveness; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian signs; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Pedestrian vehicle interface; Safety engineering; Traffic control devices
• Identifier Terms: U.S. Federal Highway Administration
• Geographic Terms: Las Vegas (Nevada); Miami (Florida); San Francisco (California)
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I85: Safety Devices used in Transport Infrastructure;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01342377
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Jun 22 2011 8:29AM