An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Pedestrian Countdown Signals Based on Pedestrian Actions

This paper describes how pedestrian countdown signals have been deployed over the past few years in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area in order to help enhance pedestrian safety at crosswalks. The paper summarizes the efforts of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of such signals. The effectiveness was evaluated by considering pedestrian actions at signalized locations in the Las Vegas Metropolitan area. A before-and-after study was performed for this purpose. The “before” condition data were collected immediately prior to installation of the countdown signals, and the “after” condition data were collected several months after the installation of the signals. The measures of effectiveness (MOEs) identified to evaluate the effectiveness of these installations include the following: pedestrian-vehicle conflicts, pedestrians in a crosswalk during the flashing DON’T WALK, pedestrians trapped in the middle of crossing, pedestrians in the second half of the road during flashing DON’T WALK, pedestrians who started crossing during DON’T WALK, and pedestrians in the crosswalk at the end of all red. Results of the analyses of the data indicate that the use of pedestrian countdown signals led to a decrease in percentage of conflicts, pedestrians in a crosswalk during flashing DON’T WALK, pedestrians who started crossing during DON’T WALK, and pedestrians in a crosswalk at the end of all red time. These indicate that the countdown signals were effective in enhancing pedestrian safety.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/1933452161
• Corporate Authors:

  Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Authors:
  • Karkee, Ganesh J
  • Nambisan, Shashi S
• Conference:
  • 2006 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers
  • Location: Milwaukee WI, United States
  • Date: 2006-8-6 to 2006-8-9
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 7p
• Monograph Title: 2006 ITE Annual Meeting and Exhibit Compendium of Technical Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crosswalks; Flashing traffic signals; Measures of effectiveness; Pedestrian areas; Pedestrian movement; Pedestrian safety; Pedestrian traffic; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Pedestrians; Safety; Walkways
• Uncontrolled Terms: Countdown traffic signals; Flashing lights
• Geographic Terms: Las Vegas (Nevada); Las Vegas Metropolitan Area
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01036832
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 1933452161
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 15 2006 4:21PM