Visually Impaired Pedestrian Safety at Roundabout Crossings

Pedestrians are some of the most vulnerable road users. This becomes more apparent at intersections, where pedestrians are unprotected and interacting with vehicles. While pedestrian phases that are commonplace at most signalized intersections facilitate their safe movement through intersections, roundabouts by nature provide little protection to pedestrians, who must judge safe gaps in traffic before crossing. This presents problems for visually impaired users, who must rely on auditory cues. The constant movement of traffic from many directions can be confusing to visually impaired pedestrians. The objective of this project is to develop a new pedestrian-activated sign that can alert drivers of the presence of pedestrians at roundabout crosswalks, in an effort to increase driver yielding behavior. A thorough literature review was performed, which investigated roadway treatments at roundabouts that improve visually impaired pedestrian safety. Given the limitations of existing studies that often put the burden of responsibility on the pedestrian, a novel pedestrian-activated yield sign was designed and an experimental design was developed for testing the effectiveness of this sign through driving simulation in combination with participant questionnaires. The goal is to determine whether drivers will intuit the meaning of the new roundabout signage after repeated exposure. Anticipated results should confirm the initial hypothesis that drivers will observe the new sign and respond by yielding to pedestrians. With multiple encounters of the new signage, an increase in yielding rates is expected compared to yielding rates associated with conventional yield signs at roundabout crossings. This study can help inform design, education, and other countermeasures for safer roundabout operations for all users.

• Record URL:
  http://safersim.nads-sc.uiowa.edu/final_reports/UM%203%20Y2_report.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/34548
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Amherst, MA  United States  01003

  Safety Research Using Simulation University Transportation Center (SaferSim)

  University of Iowa
  Iowa City, IA  United States  52242

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Christofa, Eleni
  • Ganz, Aura
  • Knodler, Michael
  • Wolfgram, Joshua
  • Fournier, Nicholas
• Publication Date: 2017-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 26p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crosswalks; Drivers; Driving simulators; Pedestrian safety; Roundabouts; Visually impaired persons; Warning signs; Yielding
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01659824
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 12 2018 10:01AM