Safety Assessment of Backlit Pedestrian Crossing Sign on Stopping Characteristics at Unsignalized Intersection

Traffic engineers regularly choose LED illuminated signs in order to improve safety at locations identified as high risk for crashes. Recent studies have shown that these signs have characteristics that make them more visible and legible than the conventional signs. LED signs are commonly used at stop-controlled intersections, particularly for the actual STOP sign. Investigations have been conducted into the effectiveness of different treatments -including back lit LED (BLS) STOP signs, and their impacts on gap selection and stopping patterns. However, there is yet to be an understanding of the complete adequacy of these remedies on traffic operations and road safety, especially on regulatory or warning signs other than STOP signs. This research study has selected pedestrian crossing BLS to quantify the amelioration of traffic safety at stop-controlled intersections (SCI) in low visibility settings. This two-pronged study includes a pairwise comparison of surrogate crash measurements and a conflict analysis of an intersection. Replication of field observations were possible with the help of calibration and validation of a micro simulation model in order to conduct conflict analysis. The results from both analyses support the previous studies' on BLS signs safety impacts and indicated safer driving behavior characterizes with the countermeasure - less chance of violation of the traffic sign under hazardous condition when a BLS is present. The number of conflicts has dropped as well under such scenarios. Thus, this research may represent a point of reference for engineers in adjusting or considering BLS pedestrian crossings and suggests a method to assess such treatments.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB50 Standing Committee on Traffic Control Devices.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Foomani, Matin Giahi
  • Alecsandru, Ciprian
  • McConnell, Lindsey
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash causes; Crosswalks; Illuminated traffic signs; Light emitting diodes; Pedestrian movement; Simulation; Stop signs; Unsignalized intersections
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01624358
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-01454
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 30 2017 9:54AM