FOUR-WAY STOP "A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SAFETY DEVICE"

THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA INITIATED A ONE YEAR TRIAL OF THE "FOUR-WAY STOP" TO TEST USE OF THIS REGULATION AS A SAFETY DEVICE. ACCIDENTS WERE REDUCED BY 87% AT 57 TEST INTERSECTIONS FOR COMPARABLE BEFORE AND AFTER PERIODS. THERE WAS ALSO A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN THE SEVERITY OF ACCIDENTS AT THESE LOCATIONS; PERSONAL INJURIES WERE REDUCED BY 92% AND TRAFFIC FATALITIES WERE ELIMINATED. THOUGH FOUR-WAY STOPS CREATE DELAYS AT INTERSECTIONS, THEY WERE INSTITUTED AT LOCATIONS WITH HIGH ACCIDENT FREQUENCIES WHERE STANDARD TRAFFIC ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES PROVED TO BE INEFFECTIVE AND WHERE DAILY TRAFFIC TENDED TO BE LIGHT OR MODERATE. TRAFFIC SIGNALS SOMETIMES CONTRIBUTE TO SPEEDING WHEN MOTORISTS TRY TO MAKE THE LIGHT. HOWEVER, THE DELAY AT THE STOP IS MOMENTARY, AS THE DRIVER DOES NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE GREEN LIGHT. STATISTICAL TABULATIONS OF THE ACCIDENTS AT THE TEST INTERSECTIONS ARE GIVEN FOR BEFORE AND AFTER THE INITIATION OF FOUR-WAY STOPS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • 7 Pp, 1 Tab
• Corporate Authors:

  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  /City of Philadelphia
  ,   United States 
• Authors:
  • Heany, J
• Publication Date: 1969

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash severity; Fatalities; Injuries; Intersections; Multiway stop signs; Safety equipment; Statistics; Tables (Data); Testing; Traffic crashes; Traffic delays; Traffic signal timing; Traffic signals
• Old TRIS Terms: Four way stop signs; Tabulation
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225609
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Nat Safety Council Safety Res Info Serv
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 9 1971 12:00AM